


A Hand in Darkness

by hexedmaiden



Series: A Hand in Darkness [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Animal Death, Blood and Gore, Horror, M/M, POV First Person, References to Depression, mentions of abuse, mentions of domestic violence, mentions of human sacrifice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-12
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:00:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 22
Words: 25,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26431552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hexedmaiden/pseuds/hexedmaiden
Summary: The town of Greyacres is tiny. Population: 1,231Locals would say if a fly landed on a map, it’s under the fly’s foot. You’ve probably driven through this sleepy, foggy town, but blinked and never noticed. There’s only one traffic and a family owned gas station. Greyacres is an old town, the families that live here now, well most of them have been here since the start.In the town you’d find a school that teaches kids pre-kindergarten through high school, a post office, and the big summer attraction, the dairy bar. If you need a doctor, dentist, or really anything else you’ll have to travel out of town for that.There isn’t a lot that happens here. At least I don’t think so. But something is happening. I’m gonna find out what it is even if I have to burn Greyacres to the ground.
Relationships: Damien Adams/Erik Hawthorne, Lora Fielder/Hemera Kennedy
Series: A Hand in Darkness [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1921255
Kudos: 5





	1. Prologue

In 1866, a group of settlers entered the foggy clearing of what would later become Greyacres. The noises of nature that once surrounded them stopped when they entered the clearing. As any deity worshiping folk, they took this as a sign from their God: that they had found the place they should stake claim to and build a new life.

It wasn’t long before tents turned into small wooden homes. Farmers began to work the land, and the animals provided meat, eggs, and milk. Women washed their clothes in the creek nearby. The foggy valley filled with the laughter of the children. The lands flourished, their livestock grew, and so would the families. 

All was quiet and peaceful. 

The third winter the small town had seen came. Everyone had begun to prepare for the dry, cold winds and snow: harvesting the meats and plants to stockpile before the harsher weather set in. 

―

When the first snowfall of winter started the town’s children couldn’t have been more excited. Almost none of them could pay attention during their studies. Instead, they would get caught up daydreaming of playing in the snow. When their teacher let them out for playtime, she cautioned them to stay away from the woods. The young woman stood in the doorway, watching them. There was a noticeable change in the air as she went to turn her back. She took a look across the yard once more before she returned to her desk to grade the young ones on their work. 

She had almost finished the small stack of papers when a scream rang out. Knocking over her chair, she rushed outside, her ebony hair trailing behind her. The children all stood near the tree line. 

Once she reached them she could see it. There, right at the edge of the woods were the bodies of a couple of coyotes in a vast pool of red, the heat rising from their bodies. One of the smaller coyotes’s back legs twitched. They were fresh kills. 

The woman started to pull the kids away from the scene. She yelled at them to run back inside. She kept looking behind her as she followed the kids back to the schoolhouse. She never saw what did it, but whatever it was she knew it was watching them. 

Livestock in groups of three would go missing from farms only to turn up a few days later; their bodies shredded at the edge of the forest. The mayor put the town on a curfew and appointed some of the town’s members as watchmen. Men patrolled the town in shifts until the morning light. Farmers checked on their animals one by one and made sure they were all accounted for. 

The men patrolled night after night. A week passed without incident. It returned two weeks later; once again in clusters of three. 

This time the best hunters from the town gathered supplies to track down the animal that had done this. They kissed their families goodbye before heading off into the woods. For the first few days, things were quiet for the hunters. It didn’t take long for the youngest member of the party to realize it was too quiet. They could hear no birds above their heads and the farther into the woods the fewer noises they seemed to hear. 

It was on the third night that things changed for the hunters. 

The men came to rest in their journey. They put up a few tents and huddled near the fire pit they’d made. After the chattering had died, the men made their way to the tents for the night, the sound of the fire crackling the only noise around them. When the morning came and the hunters exited their tents they noticed large tracks circling their camp. The prints were that of a deer, and yet were as large as a bear’s. The men packed up their things and began the hunt once more. 

They followed the tracks deeper and deeper into the woods, jumping at every sound around them.

The hunters had become the hunted.

Whatever it was finally lured them into a large clearing at the base of a hill formation.

Before them, animal carcasses were impaled on spikes along with what could have been human remains. Before the men could think to turn back, the trees trembled in the wind. The men heard a loud high-pitched noise causing them to drop their weapons and grip their heads. The sound increased and as soon as it had started it stopped. The men dropped to their knees. 

The only sound left was the ringing in their ears. One of the men realized his ears were bleeding and began to scream. No one could hear him. 

One by one each of them began to hear a voice. The voice was rough, like it hadn’t been used in a long time. They looked all around, trying to find the source of the voice, but to no avail. The words became clearer and clearer. It told them that this, is its land. It has let them thrive and now it demanded payment, for it had been a merciful god. 

The voice became louder.

The ground shook as if a stampede of horses were closing in.

A shadow covered the men.

A pair of black cloven hooves came into view. 

One of the men lifted his head and before him was a massive creature with long legs reminiscent of a horse standing on its hind legs. From its torso there spread an extra set of arms below the ones that were attached to its shoulders. The creature stared down at them with eyes so black that they seemed to absorb the light around them. Sprouting from atop its head were antlers like that of an elk. The creature had to be at least two bears in height. 

The monster spoke to them again.

Worship me.

Worship me.

WORSHIP ME.

WORSHIP ME!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can find me on twitter, tumblr, and pillowfort @ hexedmaiden


	2. I

“You. You can’t go back. Promise me when you leave Greyacres. You’ll never come back.”

I jerk awake. My room is still dark, so I close my eyes again. My heart is pounding in my ears as I lay wrapped in my blanket. I unwrap myself to expose my foot to the cold air to cool me off. I had the nightmare, again. My brother Jason, engulfed in flames. This isn’t the first nightmare like this, and I’m sure it won’t be the last.

It doesn’t take long for me to fall asleep again. I don’t have another dream. Just darkness.

When I wake again I’m greeted by the morning light, trying to filter its way inside my room. I can never sleep in. I don’t ever stay up past 11 pm.

I roll over facing the door of my room. I check the clock on the nightstand, the glaring red of 6:50 am greets me. I crawl my way out of bed, making my way to the bathroom that’s adjoined to my room. I catch my reflection in the mirror. My hair looks as wild as ever. The stark contrast of my dark hair with my skin makes me look as pale as a corpse.

I’m sure my neighbors think a ghost lives here every time I walk by a window. I’m glad that I at least no longer feel like a ghost. _Thank you, therapy_.

I grab the edge of my shirt and pull it over my head. I toss it into the laundry basket, before stripping out of the rest of my clothes tossing them in as well. I open the shower door and walk in. I aim the shower head away from me and turn on the water.

The heat of the water on my face conjures up images from my dream. I can’t help but think of the flames licking my face. I shake my wet hair trying to dislodge the memory. I make quick work of washing my hair and body before turning the water back off. I grab a towel from the rack and scrunch up the water from my hair before wrapping it around my shoulders to dry off.

I change into a fresh set of pajamas before heading out of my room to make myself some breakfast. A small stack of pancakes and six pills later I get up from my kitchen table to rinse my plate to put in the dishwasher when my cell phone vibrates on the table. It’s not a quick buzz from a text, but a pattern. No one that I know calls me this early. I figure it must be one of those scam calls, or a wrong number.

I finish up what I’m doing before I grab my phone. I look at the lit screen and don’t recognize the number so I let it ring. As I sit the phone back down it stops, and I see a notification pop up for a new voice message. I open the phone and call my voicemail before putting the phone to my ear.

At first I hear nothing before a crackling sound. I start to hear a voice that at first sounds far away then begins to get closer. The once dominating crackling sound drops away as the voice becomes clear. As if whomever it was was growling into my ear in person.

“He’s awake, you have to come home, don’t you wanna come home?”

My phone clatters to the ground as I recognize the voice.

Jason.


	3. II

I stand there in my kitchen for what feels like hours as I struggle to focus on my breathing. Like I’m suffocated by an oppressive heat. Inhale. 1...2...3...4. Exhale. 1...2...3...4. When I'm finally able to come back to myself I don’t even pick up my phone, I leave it there on the kitchen floor. I walk to the fridge to get a cold bottle of water and sit my ass down on the couch in the living room.

It isn’t until I try to take another drink of water I realize the bottle is empty. I move around to lay on the couch and stare at the ceiling for a time. I want to lay here and not think about it. I try to rationalize it.

Why would I dream of Jason telling me not to go back to Greyacres and then get a phone call trying to get me to go back home? Am I still dreaming? It's possible I’ve fuckin cracked for good this time. I haven’t thought about his death in a long while. It's not like the anniversary of his death is coming up anytime soon. He died when I was still pretty young. I’m even surprised I still remember what his voice sounds like.

I get up from the couch with a headache and make my way to the medicine cabinet. I toss my head back as I down the suggested dose with a fresh cold bottle of water. I grab my phone from the floor and check it. No new messages. I open my phone’s messenger app and click on the thread from Lora.

_ Me: Hey, weird question? _

_ Lora: You only ever talk to me when you want something :( _

_ Me: Hush, I talk to you everyday  _

_ Lora: Ugh you’re lucky I love you, now what do you want? _

_ Me: Has anything happened in Greyacres recently? _

_ Lora: Umm not super recently, why? _

I want to tell her that I'm having nightmares again, but I don’t need her worrying over me more than she already does. We’ve been best friends ever since her family moved to Greyacres when I was in middle school.

_ Me: Just checkin lol _

_ Lora: You know nothin happens around here. Trust me if something happened you’d be the first person I’d call! _

_ Me: Ugh, I know but I figured I would ask anyway :( _

_ Me: I had a weird dream last night and it made me feel a little off this morning and I wanted to check in. _

_ Lora: Aw I hope you feel better! But nah, everything is safe and sound. _

_ Me: Thanks <3 That’s good news at least. I’ll call you later when you’re at lunch :) _

_ Lora: You better lol <3 byeee _

I smile at my phone and set my phone down. I think I feel better? But I can’t shake this feeling that something is wrong. I hope this is a weird fluke or the pizza I had last night has given me nightmares. Okay, maybe that wasn’t a pizza induced nightmare. It was a regular nightmare or something worse.  _ Great! _

I rub my face with my hands in frustration.

I open up my phone again, my thumb goes to the telephone icon, and I tap the contacts tab. I click the first one and put the phone to my ear. The phone rings a few times before my mom answers.

“Hey, sweetie! What are you doing?” My mother’s cheery voice filters through the phone.

“Hey, mom, nothing much. I, uh, I had a dream about Jason last night. Earlier I had a phone call and it was him too? But, that time I was awake. I texted Lora and she said everything was fine back home but I...something feels wrong, ma.” I sniffle at the end and rub my eyes as they start to sting.

“Aw, Erik, sweetheart it’s gonna be okay. Remember your breathing, honey? Tell me what happened,” she says.

I tell her what happened through gasps of breathy sobs, giving myself hiccups. I begin to calm down. She’s quiet, but I can tell she’s still on the line. I’m scared of how she’s going to react to this. I know she still mourns Jason. She’s always been a strong woman and clear-headed throughout everything. She finally begins to speak.

“It’s time for you to come back home. There’s things I never told you. It’s finally time that you knew.” My mom's shaky voice makes my heart drop. I’ve never heard her like this. It scares the hell right out of me.

“Mom? What’s going on?” I ask, panicked.

“Erik, please. It’ll be easier if you just come home, alright,” Mom tells me. While mom has had her fair share of times when she's used that voice, it was usually aimed at Jason when we were growing up. I haven’t heard her use this tone in so long. I know whatever this is, it’s serious.

“I will, mom, let me pack a bag and I’ll be on my way,” I promise her.

We say our goodbyes before I hang up the phone. I take a deep breath and let it go slowly. I grab a tissue from the tissue box on the side table next to the couch. I wipe my eyes before blowing my nose.

I get up from the couch and make my way to my bedroom. I go to the closet and bring down an empty backpack. I open a few dresser drawers to grab my basics; socks and underwear, enough to last me a week. 

I take my shirts and trousers from the clothes hangers and fold them into the backpack. I wrap a pair of my sneakers in a plastic bag and put them on top. I make sure not to forget my wallet, phone, and charger. Once I double and triple check my room for things to make sure I didn't miss anything, I throw on some sweatpants and a t-shirt, slip on my shoes and head out the door.


	4. III

The drive to mom’s house is a blur. I don’t remember anything after getting into the car until I pull into the stone driveway. I open the back passenger door to grab my backpack. I shut the door and turn to face the house. It’s still as menacing looking as when I was a kid. 

I don’t even make it to the door before mom opens the door for me. I meet her at the door and she drags me into a hug. She pecks a kiss to my cheek before she even lets me in the house.

I can’t help but to chuckle at her. She used to do that when I’d come home from school. Always a hug and kiss before coming into the house. Except on bad days then she’d give me the space I needed. She always had a sixth sense for this kind of thing.

I kick my shoes off onto the floor mat beside the front door. I follow mom into the living room. I sit my bag down on the floor next to the couch as mom sits in the recliner that’s catty corner from the couch. I watch her and I know she didn’t ask me to come back home for us to sit in silence and stare at one another.

“Erik, honey. What I’m about to tell you might sound like the most insane thing you’ve ever heard me say.” She looks me in the eyes. All I can do is nod my head signalling for her to continue.

“Something is happening in Greyacres that I thought had stopped when I was younger than you are now. This town has never been normal. Those dreams you’ve had. I’ve had similar ones growing up. Every generation of our family has had this curse. I hate that I couldn’t protect you from it.” Her voice cracks.

“Mom, what are you talking about?” I ask, baffled.

“This town ain’t right Erik. It’s never been “right.” The people who founded this place. Our ancestors came across this beast in the forest and it brainwashed them. It made them sacrifice their children. It got into their heads. They worshiped it. Every few years each of the founding families would sacrifice one of their children. They stopped doing these ritual murders in the early 70s. The families either got tired of killing their fuckin kids or thought people would start to notice. I don’t know, but what I do know is that that thing is back. It’s weak but it’s back.``

―

I don’t even know what to say back to that because what the fuck? The fear that I hear seep into her voice has me scared and I believe every word she says.

“Mom, this is, this is a lot to take in.” I say.

“Trust me, kiddo, I know” Mom huffs a breath of laughter.

“What can we do? I mean can we even really kill this thing? If it’s actually tangible and not some kind of collective hallucination?” I can’t believe I’m even entertaining this idea. I don’t know if I want this to be real or another fun aspect of my nightmares. I can’t wait to explain all this to my therapist. This is insane.

“You remember that box of your grandma’s things in the attic we wouldn’t let you touch? There’s a diary of her’s our family kept and passed down, it documents everything. I figure maybe there’s something in there about killing this thing? No way that someone hasn’t tried to kill it before.” Mom replies.

I remember that box she’s talking about. I loved all the cool antiques in the attic from mom’s old toys and grandpa’s old clothes. That locked dark wooden box always called to me. I tried to snoop around the house to see if I could find a key in a drawer or hidden in my parent’s room. I found things that I did not want to find, ever.

“Well, I guess it’s time to pop open Pandora’s box, huh?” I push myself up from the couch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I missed posting yesterday, so instead I'll be posting double today!


	5. IV

Mom grabs the pole from the hallway closet that we used to pull down the hatch to the attic. She hooks it on the little metal ring and pulls, popping the attic door free. She lowers it down until she can reach up to grab the frame. Lowering it the rest of the way until she can slide the ladder down for me to climb up.

I swear this ladder was much bigger when I was a kid. Now it looks like a death trap. I hate it. I take my phone out of my pocket to open the flashlight app as I start climbing up the ladder.

The little window in the attic barely lets in a decent amount of light. What little light there is it’s still not bright enough to light up the entire room. When I reach the last step I pull the string of the single ceiling light and turn the light off on my phone. Besides the thick layers of dust it ain’t too bad up here. I attempt to stand all the way but instead I have to hunch over to move around.

“Do you remember where this thing is?” I yell down to her.

“It should be in the back? Behind the plastic tub of Christmas decorations, I think?” She yells back at me.

“Got it!” I respond and make my way over to red and green storage tubs. I ding my head on the beams a few times but I make it relatively unscathed. I push the plastic bins around, there behind them, up against the wall is a small, dusty, dark brown wooden box. I pick it up and nudge the tubs back into place with my sock covered foot.

I look at the box in my hands. It’s nothing ornate, only a flat topped square with an “H” in a script font. The box was glazed and I can kinda catch my reflection in it. When I turn it over I can hear something shift inside of it.

“Erik! Did you find it?” Mom yells up shocking me out of my thoughts. I’m surprised I don’t hit my head again.

“Yeah, Jesus! Trying to give me a heart attack.” I mumble the last bit to myself.

I walk over to the ladder and look down to the hallway, shouldn’t have done that. I get a little nervous thinking about falling so I back away before I kneel on the floor sitting the box beside me.

“Here take this,” I move to lay down on the floor and hand down the box down to her outstretched hand. Once she moves away from the ladder I shift around to make my way back down. I pull the wooden steps to me and fold the ladder on itself. I take the frame and push it to the ceiling until it clicks signalling it’s in place. I unhook the pole and put it back into the closet.

―

Mom lays the box on the coffee table and the two of us sit on the couch together.

“Where did you and dad hide the key to this thing?” I ask her.

“We never hid the key.” Mom smiled and picked the box up. I watched as she flipped it over. Taking her thumbs she pressed down on either side with a click the wooden bottom came free. In the middle is a metal knob that reminds me of the cranks on a music box. Mom turns it a few times and there’s another audible click. She turns it back over and lifts the open lid.

“What the fuck?” I whisper in astonishment. I catch mom out of the corner of my eye trying to hide her laugh.

The inside of the box was a soft red lining. Nestled inside is a thick black leather book. I reach in to take it from its little resting place. I open the cover and see the name “Abigail Hawthorne” and below that the date “1866.” The next page is a family tree of sorts, my eyes trace the branches and I shiver. My name and my brother’s are at the bottom. The weirdest part is that I don’t recognize the handwriting. It’s not my mom or grandma’s, definitely not my dad’s chicken scratch.

“I’m gonna make us some lunch, I’ll leave ya to it.” Mom puts the box on the table before getting up. She ruffles my hair. I respond with a mumbled “okay” as she passes by me. I move over on the couch to lounge back crossing my feet at the ankles. I begin reading through some of the diary entries. Nothing too exciting for the first few pages. She writes about her journey from Scotland to the New World, and of her and her husband settling down with a group of others into what later becomes Greyacres.

“Foods done, honey.” Mom nudges me causing me to jump and I almost smack myself with the book.

“Oh, thanks.” I take the ribbon bookmark of the journal to mark my place with before I take myself a lunch break. I followed mom back to the kitchen and the smell of grilled cheese and ham hit me. I grabbed the plate mom made for me and sat at the kitchen island with her.

“Mom?”

“Yeah?”

“Did dad know about this stuff? Is he even aware it’s happening again?”

Mom pauses, tucking her hair behind her ear before turning toward me. Dad and her divorced when I was pretty little. That’s the thing about losing a child, it either brings people together or tears them part. They still love each other to this day. Growing up I never heard one ever say a bad word about the other.

“He knows, kinda? When we went through that situation with you, I told him I went through something like that when I was your age.” Mom’s eyes start to swell with tears. None of us like to think about that time when I was in the hospital. I give her a small smile.

“This whole human sacrifice and monster business? Nah.” She laughs. “When I first read the diary I thought it was a bizarre family legend for so many years. Then of course the depression hit along with the night terrors. I chalked it up to my nights reading that damn book before bed. It was a distant memory for a while.”

I take a sip of water as she talks.

“There’s never a good time to tell the guy you’re dating. “Oh hey want to meet my family, also we used to take part in human sacrifices.” She deadpans. I laugh so hard I snort water up my nose.


	6. V

I spend most of my time after lunch sprawled out on the couch reading. My eyes skimmed through some of the book until about the six month diary entry when something catches my attention. She mentions some of the children came across a gutted coyote near where they were playing. That’s only the first instance of something not being quite right around here.

I thumb through it again. I sit up from where I’ve slid down the couch more as I continue to read.

_ “-Oliver came to visit me at the school. Some of the farmers’ got livestock missing. They went out looking for them. Found ‘em gutted like that coyote the kids found. Those headaches of mine keep getting worse every time we find another kill. I think the stress and worry about what could happen next is getting to me.” _

It stops for a while but of course it doesn’t last long though. She mentions how more livestock goes missing, always in sets of threes. Creepy. 

_ “The mayor held a town meeting last night. Some of the men are going out to the woods this morning to try to find whatever it is. Some of our best trackers are going with them. Luckily Oliver is staying behind, I don’t know what I’d do if he went with them. Send myself to an early grave with worry most like. I hope they find whatever it is and kill it.” _

The entries skips a few days ahead.

_ “The men have returned. They come from the woods near the watchtower. We all heard the bell and came out from our houses to see. They’ve lost one of the younger boys, just shy of adulthood, Mara Olsson’s middle child, Klas. I stood with Oliver as we watched poor Mara rush to her dead son’s body. She howled in pain. I went to her side to comfort her. Hoping to help calm her down. The rest of the men all looked haunted by what they had seen. _

_ After I got Mara to calm down and to step away from her son, that’s when I saw it. Whatever killed him tore a hole clean through him. I rushed us both away while trying not to think about what could have done this.” _

My eyes scan the next page.

_ “I heard one of the men from the hunting expedition talking to Oliver. They say something about sudden deafness? Before hearing this growling voice in their heads. It chilled me to the core. I heard the same thing when I had that headache. It had sounded like a growl below the surface. It spoke to them through their heads. It wants us to kill in its name.” _

―

I lay the book on my chest. I rub my eyes before taking my phone out of my pocket to check the time. I realize I hadn’t texted or called Lora like I was planning to. She’s gonna rip my ass a new one. I send her a message apologizing.

_ Me: Sorry I forgot to call you on your lunch break :( _

_ Me: I actually came by to visit mom and I’ll be staying here for a while! _

_ Lora: How dare you! I forgive you tho <3 _

_ Lora: Everything ok?? _

_ Me: Umm, kinda? Just found some fucking bizarre and wild family news. Like a family curse. _

_ Lora: Bitch, wtf??? _

_ Me: Yeah! That’s what I’m saying!! _

_ Lora: I need to know everything! Call me! NOW _

I hit the call button next to Lora’s name. The phone doesn’t even completely start to ring before she picks it up.

“Family curse!? What are you some kind of paranormal YA protagonist?” Lora snarks at me before I can say hello making me laugh.

“Yes? I mean let’s see; there’s a family curse, a paranormal big evil, and maybe the chosen one trope. The only thing missing is a mysterious hot guy that I’ll fall in love with within 10 pages.” I respond.

“Maybe if you weren’t so hung up on you know who.” Lora says.

I groan, I immediately know who Lora is talking about.

“I hate you, you know that.” I mumble.

“No you don’t. You two were acting like total idiots that neither of you said anything.” Lora says.

I pout in response even though she can’t see me. I haven’t thought of him in a long time.

Damien and I didn’t get close until our senior year. We were always friendly and he helped me out in math class. Was I harboring a major crush on him since he moved to town? Yes. I just pined from afar. He had that whole punky goth aesthetic going on. I assumed he was straight, and besides he was way out of my league anyway even if he wasn’t.

It’s been a handful of years, and yeah I’m not over him completely. Lora would point out the few guys I’ve somewhat dated could be Damien’s twins. But I’m not ready to go down the rabbit hole of what that means.

“Earth to Erik!! Hello?” Lora says.

“Yeah, yes!” Snapping out of my thoughts.

“Keep it together, Erik.” Lora laughs.

“I am! I was thinking about the last time he and I saw each other and how it didn’t end so well. I don’t know if he’d even talk to me.”

“Hey, chill out, dingus. Don’t get so worked up about it. You might not even see him while you’re down here.” Lora tries to reassure me.

“I’m good, you’re right. I’m overthinking shit.” I tell her.

“I know you are, you precious child.” Lora coos.

“You’re only older by like two months!” I remind her.

“So hey, do you want to go get lunch together tomorrow?” She asks.

“Um duh, of course!” I say immediately.

We spend most of the evening talking nonsense on the phone. Lora tells me about her fiance Hemera’s art gallery opening that’s coming up and I should come with. I tell her I will before I finally let her go when I hear her door open and Hemera’s voice in the background.

I take the diary up to my old room. Mom’s dusted a bit in here and changed the sheets before I came over. I set the book on the nightstand before sitting down to turn on the TV in my room. Getting myself situated on the bed I grab the book and I start reading again.


	7. VI

I woke in the middle of the night again, but this time because I woke up cold. I had kept reading until I fell asleep on top of the covers. I place the book on the night table then I crawl under the blankets before drifting off to sleep once more.

When I wake up for a second time, I see the sun peeking through the curtains. I decided that since the sun is up, I guess I’ll get up. I drag myself out from under the warm blankets.

I shuffle my way to the bathroom. I head back to my room to check the time. 8:09 A.M. Well I guess I didn’t sleep in as long as I thought. I start to make my way downstairs to find something to eat for breakfast. As I get closer to the kitchen I can smell mom cooking eggs and bacon. I make my way to the kitchen.

―

Mom left for work not too long after breakfast. Once I finished eating and putting away dishes, I took myself a quick shower. I throw on a fresh pair of underwear and one of my old band tees. Then I go back to my room for a bit.

I lay in my bed flipping through the diary again. There’s no way Grandma Abigail could have been the only one to write about it, right? It makes me wonder if there’s more journals or local newspaper articles about this. The entire town was in on this whole thing, but maybe they kept it to themselves, making sure there were no paper trails about this thing. Except Granny Abigail who kept her diary hidden. 

I make a note in my phone about trying to find more information if I can. Even though I know I’ll find nothing. I read another page or two before I get up and throw on a pair of jeans and grab a jacket before heading out the door. I shoot off a message to Lora letting her know I’m heading out to meet her at Pepper’s for our lunch date. 

―

Pepper’s isn’t more than a five minute drive from mom’s house. The place is pretty much exactly what you’d picture when someone says “American diner.” There’s a jukebox in the front along with a pinball machine. In the center is a wrap around counter with bar stools. The walls lined with teal colored booths have mini jukeboxes on the wall. I don’t think those things have worked since the 50’s. The place still looks a little worse for wear. It’s still got that dingy yellow lighting like it did when I was a child.

The waitress greets me when the little bell above rings and tells me to grab a seat and she’ll be right with me. I tell her thanks and grab the first booth I see, grabbing one of the plastic laminated menus. There are only a few people here; a few guys who might be truckers and a scattering of locals on their own lunch breaks.

The grey haired waitress makes her way over to me to take my order.

“What can I get ya to drink or are you ready to order, hun?” She asks me.

“Um, water please. I’m meeting a friend so I’ll wait for her before I order.” I smile at her, and check her name tag. Glinda nods and writes my order down.

“That’s fine dear, I’ll go get your water and wave me over when she gets here.” Glinda pats the edge of the table and turns to walk away. She returns with my water and a straw. I tell her thank you. I rip the paper off the straw and put it in my drink. I take a small sip of before I pull my phone out of my pocket. I had one unread message.

_ Lora: Ok be there in 5 <3 _

No sooner do I check the text does the bell above the door ring again. I glance up through the hair that’s fallen into my face and see a tall brunette walk in. My heart starts to speed up, but then I realize it’s not who I think and I settle back down. False alarm. I text Lora to let her know I grabbed our usual table. 

She responds immediately to let me know she can see me. I look up once more, I see her waving in the window before she comes in. She takes off her purse and puts it in the booth across from me before she slides in next to it. Lora has her box braids in a messy bun atop her head. The red faux suede jacket she’s wearing, that coordinates with her lipstick, has the sleeves pushed up to her elbows. 

“Hello handsome!” Lora greets me, making me shake my head at her, smiling.

“It’s about time you got here. I thought I was gonna starve waiting for you.”

“Hush you drama queen.” Lora grabs a menu and taps me on the head with it, before taking a look at it. We both always look at the menu, knowing full well we are both gonna get the same thing we always do.

Our waitress comes over to get our order. Glinda smiles as she tells us she’ll put that right in for us. 

“I hope you weren’t sitting here too long,” Lora says after taking a sip of her drink.

“Nah 10 minutes at the most” I tell her.

“So I’ve been thinking,” Lora leans closer to me, “about the monster shit you were talking about last night. We should check the library for any local history books. Maybe they might have something? Or not because I bet there’s a local government cover up.”

“Holy shit you are taking this surprisingly well!” I tell her.

“If any town was gonna be plagued by some demon monster thing, it would be Greyacres.” She arches a pointed brow at me taking a sip of her own drink. That’s fair, I’ll give her that.

“Well I figure granny Abigail couldn’t have been the one keeping a record about this thing. You don’t think the town gathered any and all documents to burn the evidence?” 

“Shit, I didn’t think about that!” Lora says wide eyed.

“I would think we would have heard about it growing up or something if it was public knowledge.” I say to her.

“Damn you’re right. Back to square one I guess.” Lora pouts.

That’s when our waitress Glinda brings over our plates of food. We both dig into our burgers and fries while bouncing ideas off each other between bites.

Lora offers to swing by the town’s city building on her way to work to get a copy of the oldest town map she can get so we can try to track down the locations mentioned in the diary. Despite my trying to tell her she doesn’t have to get involved in this bonkers family drama, she tells me to hush up and eat before my food gets cold. I roll my eyes. 

We finish our food as Glinda comes over to give us the check and takes our empty plates away. I pay for our food telling Lora she has to pay next time. As we leave I give her a hug before we part ways outside.


	8. VII

Instead of walking straight to my car to go home I decide to walk around the town. I enjoy the cool crisp autumn air filling my lungs. I cross the street when it becomes my turn to use the crosswalk. I end up walking into a mom & pop bookstore and cafe combo.

It’s a nice and cozy place. The carpet is a reddy-brown color with taupe colored walls. There’s plenty of natural light coming in from the windows that line almost two walls of the store. I can smell the freshly baked cookies and a faint hint of coffee from across the store wafting from the cafe. One of the staff members putting stock on the shelves greets me when she looks up.

I sorta mindlessly walk around. I check the magazines to find some of the same horror magazines I used to get as a kid. I pick one up to flip through it’s glossy pages. It reminds me how I wanted to work in movies when I was in high school. I helped a lot with my school’s theater department. Not as an actor. I helped with the set designs. Plus any of the artsy shit they made any kid with drawing abilities do such as posters and flyers. I take the magazine and sit them back in their proper places before moving on.

I check out some of the tables of knick knacks as I go further into the store. That’s when I start to realize the music playing is not an in-house radio station, but live music. I would usually find that cringy, but the guy doesn't sound half bad. I make my way over to the back where he’s performing. I know the song he’s covering. It’s one of my favorites. For some reason he sounds a bit familiar but I can’t place it.

I keep to the shadows until I’m one wooden shelving unit between me and the musician. I slowly move down the aisle and turn the corner. I see some chairs lined up for people to sit and watch. A few people sit while others stand to watch before moving on. The musician is sitting on a stool while he plays the guitar.

I watch as his black chipped polished fingers pluck at the strings. His spindly fingers move gracefully down the neck of his guitar. He has a grunge punk look to him. Ripped black jeans, grey shirt, black boots and a leather jacket. He has his eyes closed from what I can see from where I am. It doesn’t help the hair from behind his ear looks to have fallen forward creating a curtain between us. My heart skips a beat as I think about who he reminds me of.

I don’t realize I start to mouth the lyrics until someone walks by and I stop cause I don’t look like a weirdo in a bookshop. When the song ends, he tucks that errant strand of hair back behind his ear. When he opens his eyes I notice they’re a bright blue. He smiles at the audience and he catches my eye.  _ Damien _ .

Does he recognize me? Do I stick around, what would I even say?  _ Hey it’s me Erik, the boy whose heart you broke in high school who still harbors a one-sided crush on you; also great gig!  _ Instead as I see him take off his guitar I duck behind a bookcase like a coward. Maybe he didn’t see me, and no one will notice me being stupidly suspicious. I even grab a book off the shelf and pretend to be reading it.

This feels like a terrible romcom movie. It gets even worse when I bump into someone, smacking myself in the face with the book I was holding.

“Shit, I’m sorry!” I look up from the grey shirt in front of me to see Damien’s face. I take a step back once my brain catches up as I take in how close we are.

“It is you! I thought I was seeing things. Erik, it’s great to see you again!” Damien’s blue eyes light up, he looks at me like an excited puppy. I’m swooning over him already.

“Yeah, you too.” I tuck a bit of hair behind my ear, “So you do music now?”

“Oh yeah, I do it as a side project. I actually work at Charming Fox. It's nothing major. Nothing like art school, which is where I remember you were going when we graduated.” He looks at his feet then back to me.

“Uh, art school didn’t pan out, I sorta dropped out. I still make and post art online. Sometimes I take commissions to make some money.” I say sheepishly, god please change the topic.

“Sorry to hear it didn’t work out but it’s great you’re still doing art. You were always talented with your hands...drawing all the time an’ stuff.” His southern accent peaks through as he stumbles over the innuendo, color tints his cheeks. I try to stifle a laugh.

“Yeah if only I had a dollar for every time I heard that, I’d have at least one dollar.” I playfully roll my eyes. Are we flirting? What's happening?

“I hope this doesn’t come off as weird, but are you gonna be in town long? I thought that maybe we could catch up if you got the time?” Damien asks, his finger tugs the lobe of his ear as if he’s nervous.

“I’d love to!” I say in a rush, “I mean, I’m gonna be at my mom’s for awhile. There's a lot of family stuff going on. But you can always stop by like old times.” I could smack myself, he probably thinks I’m being too eager. Besides, there’s the fact he might not even have the landline number anymore or even my current cell phone number.

“Awesome! I gotta get my gear and head out but I’ll call you okay.” Damien beams and looks like he’s about to hug me only to stop mid motion and pats me on the shoulder.

“Yeah see ya later.” I respond meekly as he leaves. I want to jump up and down with excitement but also die from awkwardness.

I started to make my way out of the aisle and remember the book in my hands. I look down and notice it’s a romance book. Nothing wrong with that until I take in the glorious cover of a super buff half naked guy with long wind swept hair. I discarded the book on the nearest shelf. I speed walk it back to my car and head home. That’s definitely enough adventure for one day.


	9. VIII

Lora didn't end up having to go to the city building. She, unlike me, remembered that the internet existed. Since most of what we were looking for was public record we could just look it up. The closest we got for the time was 1898. Which was damn good considering the town had only been around for 30 some odd years at the time.

I take the diary with me into mom’s office. I sit down at her desk to turn on the computer. I opened the historical map Lora sent me then opened an aerial shot of Greyacres in Google Maps. I drag the other window until it clicks into a split screen mode on the screen. I adjust the maps until they both lineup the best that I can. I flick open the diary once more. I skim through to see if I can find out which part of the woods the hunters went into.

My fingers follow along with my eyes across the page. Stopping where Granny Abigail mentioned a watchtower. The men came from over that direction with the body of the young boy. I look over the old map to see if I can find the watchtower structure. I find it not far from the forest on the edge of town. There’s nothing but a patch of empty land there now. I have no idea if it’s owned by someone or if it’s city property. At least I don’t have to worry about someone shooting me for trespassing.

I put a marker on Google Maps to mark the “entrance” into the woods. I took a screenshot to send to myself before I shut the computer down. I sent a text to Lora that I’ve found the place. 

―

Mom gets home about the time I pull the breadsticks out of the oven. I made us both a plate of spaghetti with breadsticks. I set the table while mom changed into her lounge clothes. I break the silence to tell mom everything Lora and I found. She doesn’t seem surprised I told Lora what’s going on. She never mentioned keeping it a secret either. Mom adores Lora anyway. She welcomed her to the family when Lora and I started becoming close friends in school.

Mom finishes eating before I do and cleans up her plate and the mess I’ve left in the kitchen. I tell her I’ll get it but she claims it’s only fair that she cleans since I cooked. I don’t complain. I turn back to my plate to grab myself one more bite, as the phone rings. I got up from the table trying to swallow the bite I had taken. I pick the phone off the kitchen counter and answer it not thinking of looking at the caller ID.

“Hello?” I answer.

“Is this Erik Hawthorne?” The man on the other side asks.

“Yeah, who is this?” I glance toward mom and she looks at me with a quirk of her eyebrow.

“It’s Damien, I worried that the house number had changed. Then I realized you might not have the same cell phone you had in high school. I didn’t think to get your number at the bookstore.”

“Oh! Damien hey, hi. No, the house number’s still the same.” I said, like an idiot. I see mom out of the corner of my eye and she gives me a look. She remembers Damien and the fall out. “I didn’t think about it either, but yeah I can give you my cell number if you want?”

“That would be awesome. Let me grab some paper” I hear him rustling around.

“Okay! I’m ready!” He says. I read it off to him. I can hear the faint sounds of a pen scratching onto paper. “Got it.”

My phone buzzes with a text from an unknown number. I hit the “Save As New Contact” button on my phone’s screen.

“Hey, do you still want to hang out tomorrow, if you’re free?” Damien asks somewhat softly into the phone.

“Yeah, what time were you thinking? I’ve got this thing I gotta do in the morning, but after that I’ll be free all day.” My teeth find a piece of skin on my lips and start to pull on it.

“Actually that works out great. I need to go by work and help them out real quick. I’ll call you when I’m on my way back home and we can go to mine or yours? Whatever’s comfortable with you?” He offers. I let go of my lip and exhale.

“Well, Charming Fox is a lot closer to your house than mine and I’ll actually be kinda on the far side of town. So I can meet you at your place.” I suggested to him.

“That’s cool with me. I’ll see you tomorrow after work, then?” He asks again.

“I’ll be there! I promise.” I smile. We say our goodbyes and I hang the phone back up on the wall. I turn away to see mom with her hand on her hip. She doesn’t look mad but not very happy.

“Damien, huh.” She raises an eyebrow.

“Yup.” I copy her stance.

“Be careful, honey. I love you but I’ll kick his ass if he hurts you again.” She walks over to me and hugs me tightly, I hug her back, and she kisses my cheek. “I’m gonna head to my room, don’t forget to turn the rest of the lights off when you're done down here.”

“I love you too, I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that mom.” I smile a little sadly. “I got the lights though, I’ll be going up in a second.” She heads up the stairs and I lean against the kitchen island. I know I should sort out these feelings I have, but that’s a problem for future me to worry about. So instead I drag myself upstairs. Once in my room I strip and throw myself under the covers to get some sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can find me on twitter, tumblr, and pillowfort @ hexedmaiden


	10. IX

I dreamt of the woods. It was dark with only the light of a flashlight to guide me. Things moved between trees like pitch black silhouettes. I stayed as quiet as I could. The light made the creatures scatter away, but I could still feel them all around me. I continue on no matter how much I know I should turn back. Out in the distance I see what looks like a ribbon of fire waving between the trees. I don’t know why but I run toward it. Twigs snap beneath my feet. There’s a roar and then...I wake up. My heart feels like it’s coming out of my chest.

Whatever is out there is trying to scare me from going into the woods.

Well sorry that’s not gonna happen.

I roll over and check my phone. 6:59 A.M. glares back at me. The room is still fairly dark, the sun has yet to rise. I hear noises from downstairs. My heart catches in my chest before I realize its mom putting away last night’s pots and pans. I sink back into my mattress. I turn my head into the pillow and grunt before deciding to get up. I practically throw the covers off me.

After putting on some fresh clothes I head down to the kitchen to eat something. Mom has already headed out the door to go to work by the time I made it down. She must have heard me get up and fixed me a plate. I remove the foil off that she used to keep it warm for me. I grab a drink from the fridge and take the food to sit at the kitchen island to eat.

―

I put my empty dishes into the dishwasher and start the cleaning cycle. I head back upstairs to my room this time I grab my backpack that I had brought with me. I empty out the few things I had left in there. Which was mostly lint and garbage. I grab my rechargeable battery checking the charge level on it. All but one of the four green dots light up. It’s down by one battery level. I chuck it in the bag. I unplug my phone from the wall charger and slide that into my jean pocket.

I go back to the kitchen to grab a couple water bottles and a few snacks from the pantry. I shouldn’t be in there long enough to need them, but it can’t hurt to be prepared. I almost walk to the front door but I turn to go back to the kitchen. I open the kitchen island drawers until I find the drawer of batteries and the spare flashlights. I toss a few batteries and a flashlight into my backpack.

I lock the door behind me as I leave the house. I walk to my car and toss my backpack into the passenger seat. Before I put the keys in the ignition I remember I didn’t tell Lora or mom what I was doing. I could at least call Lora, but I would feel bad for waking her and Hemera up to come with me. There’s also the question of would this put them in danger by involving them more than they already are?

I settled on shooting Lora a text instead. I let her know that I’m heading out so she can’t be mad at me later, or madder anyway.

I slide my phone back into my pocket and start the car. I fill the time with music mostly to distract myself from the creeping feeling in my gut. 

I pull up to the sidewalk and park. I look out the driver window to the trees moving in the wind. The field of grass is a mix of lush green and dying yellow. The greenest parts of grass are nearest to me. As if the closer to the forest you are the closer you are to death. I take the keys out of the ignition, grab my bag and open the door.

After clicking the lock symbol on the key remote. I put on my backpack.

Before I can second guess myself I walk across the small field. I try to clear my mind. To focus on the sounds around me. People leaving for work, birds chirping, and distant dogs barking. I start walking a bit faster. The bit of daylight overhead darkens around me. Startled, I stopped walking. I notice the trees around me and look back. I didn’t even realize I made it into the woods already. I continue marching on.

I don’t know how long I’ve been walking. The sun hasn’t even reached over the trees yet, but I can make out a clearing ahead of me. As I approach I can start to hear water. I found part of the creek that wraps around the town. When I get closer I notice the water is somewhat clear. I can see the algae on some of the rocks below the surface. I check my phone and open the image of the map. I orient myself with the map when I notice the weird hill bit on the map I hadn’t paid attention to before.

On a hunch I head toward it.

The sun hangs above me and a breeze blows through the trees. I zip my jacket up a bit higher and readjust my backpack on my shoulders.

―

I start to see the shape of a hill in front of me. As I get closer I notice there’s a hole at the base of it like a den. I stop and move behind a tree. I watch the dark entrance. I have no idea what’s inside of it. Could it be a monster, coyotes, mountain lions, or maybe a pack of feral children? I start to move from my hiding spot when my phone starts to go off. I panic and then start scrambling for my phone.

“Hello?” I whisper into the phone.

“Erik Vincent Hawthrone, where the fuck are you?” Lora yells into the phone. She’s used the middle name so I’m definitely in trouble.

“I’m in the woods, like I told you.”

“I have tried to call you like three times. I’m parked behind your car. I was going to call the police. I thought you got kidnapped or something.” I can hear her anger through the phone.

I don’t remember hearing or feeling my phone go off at all.

“I’m sorry, I must have lost service. My phone never went off.” I tell her. I now realize I haven’t heard anything in the woods since I entered it. No birds. Only noises that I’ve made. I keep my eyes on the cave.

“Lora, I think I found where it lives.” I barely keep the fear out of my voice.

“Erik get your ass out of there. Do not go in there without me!” Lora sounds panicked. I’ve never heard her like that and it scares me.

“I’m coming back, just stay on the phone with me please.” I plead.

“Of course, Erik. I’m not going anywhere.” Lora says calmly.

I walk backwards a few feet keeping my eyes on the cave before turning and running out the way I came.


	11. X

I break through the forest and I see Lora leaning on her car. I keep running until I skid to a halt in front of her.

“You asshole.” She flicks me in the chest.

“Ow!” I rub my chest.

“You're supposed to wait for me! You could have died in there! You’re lucky I love you or I’d throttle you myself.” She glares at me.

“I swear I won’t go back in there without you.” I move to lean on her car next to her. My shoulders slump and I put my head on her shoulder. She pats my head.

“I’m hungry.” I mumble at the same time my stomach growls.

“I guess so you’ve been in there for four hours.” I can feel her roll her eyes. Mine, bug out of my skull. It felt like twenty minutes not four fucking hours. All the sudden my phone starts buzzing like crazy in my hand. I look and see all the missed calls notifications from Lora. I open my phone to clear those away and then I see I text from Damien.

_ Damien: Work is so boring. Pls save me _

I smile down at my phone, and of course Lora notices.

“What are you so smiley about? Don’t say nothing either.”

“I may have bumped into Damien after we had lunch together. And he might have invited me to hang out with him after his shift today.” I respond.

“Well we better get your ass home to eat and scrub down so you don’t show up looking like you're raised by wolves.” Lora nudges me to move. “Come on, I’ll follow you back to yours.”

―

Our first stop when we get inside is the kitchen. When we finish eating and putting away our garbage and dishes. Lora heads into the living room to watch TV as I head upstairs to clean myself up.

I throw my clothes into the laundry hamper and grab a fresh set of clothes before going to the bathroom. I brush my teeth before I step into the shower. I wash my hair before making quick work of washing myself letting the water rinse me off. I step out of the shower to dry myself off. I blow dry my hair this time before putting on fresh clothes then head downstairs once more. When I go back into the living room I sit next to Lora. It’s her turn to lean on me.

“Look at you, looking all cute for your man!” She teases.

“He’s not my man.” That made me sad to say but I mentally blew it off.

“Not with that attitude, now hush let me watch my show in peace.” The silence between us does not last long. We start talking again and somewhere along the process we’ve moved all over the couch. By the time Lora leaves I’m sat with my legs crossed under me and her legs are over the back of the couch.

I walk Lora to the door and watch her leave before I lock up again.

I notice the clock in the kitchen shows 3:15 P.M. I’ve got at least an hour to kill before I leave for Damien's house. I go sit back on the couch. I feel very nervous. It’s not a date. If it was he would have said so, right? I grabbed the pillow next to me and put it over my face and I screamed into it hoping to release some of this energy I have. When I finish screaming I hold the pillow to my chest and resume watching television once more.

Finally my phone buzzes and it’s Damien again. This time letting me know he’s on his way to his house if I want to I can come over. I text him a quick “Ok!” I get up from the couch and check myself out in the mirror next to the front door. I try to fix my hair the best it’ll let me. I try to tuck the front of my shirt in, then untuck it. “Fuck it.” I slip on a pair of my nicer sneakers and head out.


	12. XI

I pull up outside his house. I can see the lights on and a car in the driveway. I park the car and get out, putting my keys in the pocket of my jacket. I walk up the path from the sidewalk up to the front door. His house looks pretty much the same as it did all those years ago, but much cleaner. No ash tray piled high with cigarettes sits on top of the railing or empty beer bottles littering the concrete floor. No loud shouting either.

I take a breath then knock on the door. I hear movement before the door swings open. Damien stands there in the doorway, his hair slicked back still damp from his shower. He has on a plain white shirt and black joggers.

“Hey, come in.” Damien moves out of the door frame to let me inside. I head in and slip my shoes off at the door out of politeness. He shuts the door behind me. I walk into the house a bit more. The layout looks the same from the last time I’ve been here it feels very different. It feels warmer and inviting.

“I’m glad to see you made it out of work alive.” I joke, looking at him with a smile.

“Barely, this group of ladies coming in for drinks at brunch were scary.” I follow him into the living room. From there you can see straight through to the kitchen. There’s a small hall that branches off from the living room. On the right that leads to the one bathroom and two bedrooms. He’s definitely done some remodeling since I’ve been here. Much less wood paneling and mauve paint.

“You think they might have been cougars trying to get into your pants?” I raise one of my eyebrows at him.

“Dude, one hundred percent. No one can resist this ass so I can’t blame them.” He winks at me, I shake my head and snort. “Did you want something to drink? Water, juice, or like coke? I don’t drink so there’s no beer or anything.” He asks me.

“Oh no, I’m fine for now. I’m not a fan of alcohol myself so that’s cool with me.”

“Okay, well go sit and I’ll be back.” He smiles.

I sit on the edge of the couch like I’m ready to take off out of here. I move to sit on the right feeling like the middle is too awkward. But sitting on the left might be where he usually sits and I don’t want to invade his space. I’m overthinking this, but better safe than sorry?

He comes back with a glass of lemonade and a muffin? I’m not sure how I feel emotionally about that food combo. He sits on the left side of the couch as I suspected. He’s chewing on the bite of muffin he had on the way back. I scoot back into the couch to get comfortable. He turns on on TV and I watch as he puts on Labyrinth. I look at him and he pretends to ignore me. My heart warms at the idea that after all this time he still remembers it’s one of my favorite movies.

Jareth the Goblin King was my gay awakening as a child. It’s why tall lanky boys with sharp cheekbones are my type. If my eyes slide over to Damien, it’s not my fault.

I scoot around on the couch to put my feet up, putting my chin on my knees.

“Hey, Vee?” I hear him softly say. I haven’t been called that in a long time. Vincent is my middle name and I never cared for it so I usually just use the initial “V” when writing my full name. While everyone calls me Erik, Damien was the only one to give me the nickname Vee. Erik is already short enough so who was I to argue. It made me feel special to him. So it’s no surprise when I heard it from him it sparked those feelings again.

I turned my head toward him. “Hm?”

“I gotta tell you something. I know you just back into town and this is super sudden, but I need to fuckin say it before I chicken out.” He tilts his head back, looking at the ceiling. My heart drops from my chest. I turn toward him and move closer toward him on the couch. I’m worried. My mind is running a mile a minute trying to think of what it could be.

“I’ve really liked you for a very long time and I thought I was over those more romantic feelings. I even dated other people but they all end up looking like you, which I’ll admit is creepy. But it’s the truth. When I stopped talking to you in high school it killed me. Dad didn’t need another thing to raise his hand to me about.

So I kept my mouth shut and you out of harm's reach. I wanted so much to tell you I was kinda falling for you. I couldn’t risk it. I know this is a lot to just dump on a person you haven’t seen in eight years. Hell, I don’t even know if you have a boyfriend or fiance waiting for you back home. I didn’t notice a ring on your finger but that doesn’t mean anything. I-”

I put the poor idiot out of his misery. I crawl into his lap and put my hand over his mouth. The look of shock I receive is almost laughable. It spurs me on.

“Damien Kyle Adams, I’ve been head over heels for you since you walked into Greyacres High School. While I should be weirded out you dated my lookalikes, I’m also flattered. You broke my fucking heart when you pushed me away and acted like the time we spent together meant nothing.” He tries to say something under my hand.

“But I understood then like I do now, that it was because of your dad. Thank you for trying to protect me back then even if I couldn’t see it at the time. I have a lot of fuckin baggage that you need to be okay with, like I am with yours. And for your information there’s no one waiting for me, and I don’t do one night stands. Go it?” I take my hand away. 

Damien stares at me before he clears his throat. 

“Got it.”

“Good boy.” I say teasingly. I don’t know what has made me this bold but I’m going with it. It might be the reactions I pull from Damien when I say that. He gives me these puppy eyes that make him look so soft.

“Vee, please.” Damien pleads. I move further up on his lap. I put my hands on either side of his face before leaning over him to kiss him. It’s very slow and fragile. It’s like we both knew that if we do this it changes everything. There’s no going back from this for the two of us. I feel his hands finally move to my hips. It makes me even bolder, so I let my tongue graze his lips.

He parts his lips for me. I lick into his mouth. I slide my fingers into his hair. My fingernails scrape across his scalp. He moans into my mouth and I start to rock my hips against his. I feel his hands on my hips tighten. We kiss each other harder. Right when it feels like we might claw each other's clothes off. He pulls away from me.

He looks a mess. His face is flush, his blue eyes are shiny, and he’s panting under me. I can’t help the grin on my face.

“You’re beautiful.” Damien reaches up and brushes my hair from my eyes that’s fallen into my face. I blush at his compliment.

“You’re not so bad yourself, pretty boy.” I kiss him once more.

Our movie is long forgotten in the background. The rest of the evening spent making up for lost time. While hands stay above the belt and a few layers come off, we manage to stay relatively PG-13. We finally break ourselves apart when my mom calls me and asks if she should expect me home tonight. Luckily I have enough blood up north to tell her yes. It didn’t help that Damien was on top of me nibbling on my neck like a leech. Asshole.

We do end up detaching ourselves from each other long enough for me to straighten my clothes out. He walks me out and gives me one last kiss before I get in my car and go home.


	13. XII

There’s blood. So much blood. Pain. The cracking sound of bones underfoot. I’m being held by someone. I can’t see them, but I can feel them. Their breath is hot on my neck. I can hear screaming that doesn’t belong to me. Everything is cold. I turn to see them. It’s both animal and man. The deer skull is half exposed. The fur is gone for the most part. Some tuffs are left on top of its head as if it was skinned and then torn away. The other half is Damien. 

I can’t help but reach out to him. My hand cradles his cheek. This time it’s me screaming out. My lungs are on fire.

Fire.

I wake up. 

I throw myself from the bed. Rushing to the bathroom I retch into the toilet. When I think I’ve finally finished I grab a few pieces of toilet and wipe the saliva and puke from my lips. I toss the paper in and flush. I lay on the cold tile floor of the bathroom. I lay there until the tile warms under me. The sun slowly starts to filter through the window. I get up to turn the faucet on to rinse my mouth out. 

I make my way back to bed. I don’t want to sleep, but my eyes close and I don’t bother to fight it.

―

When I wake up a few hours later I luckily don’t feel like shit. I push the covers off me and lay there in bed for a few minutes. My phone buzzes. 

“Leave me alone,” I mumble as I grab my phone anyway.

6 Unread Messages.

I open them up. Most of them are from Lora asking about all the details from last night, and two of them are from Damien. I responded to Lora first. 

_ Me: We “watched” a movie and then we kinda...made out after the first act. Oops _

Lora responds immediately.

_ Lora: WHAT!? Seriously? Tell me everything! _

I bust out laughing making myself cough.

_ Me: Jesus christ Lora!  _

_ Me: I’m a gentleman I don’t kiss and tell  _

_ Lora: OMG you are no fun at all  _

_ Me: Sorry? Lol _

I get out of bed and go to the bathroom. I catch my reflection in the mirror. My neck is covered in bruise marks. I press down on the one where my neck meets my shoulder. It doesn’t hurt but it makes me shiver. I briefly wonder if I should make a run to the store for lube and condoms. Instead, I distract myself by brushing my teeth twice before I go down to eat. I take my time replying to Lora while I finish eating. I make a plan to go with her into the woods again the next day. I lay myself down on the couch and open the message to Damien. 

_ Damien: Morning, I miss you already. Is that weird?  _

_ Me: I slept in, and no it’s not weird. I kinda miss you too, a lot. <3 _

_ Damien: I’m glad! I don’t want to be the clingy boyfriend right out the gate :’) _

He said, boyfriend! God, I’m a mess. I don’t even have enough time to respond when my phone rings in my hands. I startle and answer it. 

“Hey?” I shyly answer. 

“Hello, I hope I’m not calling you at a bad time?” Damien responds.

“Not at all, I wasn’t busy texting my clingy boyfriend or anything,” I say to poke fun at him. 

“Wow, he sounds like a loser.” He snorts into the phone.

“He is, but he has a great ass so I keep him around.” I try to keep from laughing. 

“Vee! You think my ass is great?” Damien asks so seriously that I can not help but laugh. The two of us dissolve into laughter over the phone. I can’t help but picture his face. His dimples as he smiles and the way his blue eyes twinkle. “You make me happy,” I say without thinking through the tail-end of my laughing fit. Damien makes a somewhat choking sound. 

Shit. 

Before I can even attempt to play it off he responds with “You make me happy too.” My heart does a flip. If we ended up staying on the phone for hours talking about nothing I won’t be mad. 

I don’t mention my dream I had, I don’t want to freak him out. I want to keep him as safe as possible from all of this. The thought of telling him crosses my mind and so does the idea of this breaking off before it can start. My heart aches. I just don’t know what to do.


	14. XIII

The next day Lora and Hemera arrive to pick me up for our monster hunting adventure.

We park along the sidewalk in front of the clearing of grass once again. The three of us get out of the car. I bring my backpack with us, once again refilled with water and snacks. I know the trek to the hillside den didn’t feel that far, but I lost 4 hours last time. The dying yellow grass seems to have crept a little further out. Even the trees look barer since the last time.

I start to think about it being the creature’s doing but then remember it’s autumn. What’s nature and what’s the monster’s doing. I relax my shoulders a bit. Lora takes Hemera’s hand and we all start to walk into the woods.

We chatted idly to keep the tension light. We seem to be moving faster than when it was just me in the woods. The three of us came across the creek I followed last time. We stop and I check the map I still have on my phone and make sure we keep going in the right direction.

“Am I crazy or is it unnaturally quiet? I haven’t heard a bird, dog, or even a damn squirrel.” Hemera's eyes crinkle in concern.

Lora and I tilt our heads trying to listen for noises. None of us say anything and stand there in total silence. Nothing. Not even the creek makes a sound. We’ve only been hearing the sounds of our feet breaking twigs and crunching the fallen leaves. It confirms my feelings I had last time I was in the woods.

“What the actual fuck,” Lora whispers, breaking the silence around us.

I get a feeling that there was a lot of stuff that I might have not noticed last time. “I hate to say this, but we better keep going.”

“I was afraid you’d say that.” Lora grips Hemera’s hand a little tighter and we continue deeper into the woods. The closer we get the quiet seems more deafening. I slow my pace to make sure I don’t leave them behind. I check my phone and the battery is about halfway, but I know my backup battery is still in my bag.

The den in the hillside comes into view. Time feels like it’s stopped. I watch the seconds tick slowly onward on my phone. We stop further away than I did a few days ago.

“This is it,” I whisper to the other two.

“Anyone else gonna point out the bones in the trees, or?” Lora points ahead of us to the trees closest to the hill. Sure enough, hanging from some of the higher up branches are bones of animals. Small animal skulls impaled upon branches, canine jawbones hang from some kind of string from various heights. My stomach churns. We try to move quietly. Deep down I know it’s no use. You can’t move quietly in the woods.

The closer we get we notice more bones on the ground. Everything looks animal, but I don’t let my eyes linger on anything for too long for my sanity. As we start to close the distance I can smell something sour and rotten. It makes my head hurt. Hemera makes a distressed noise behind me. I look back to her to check on her, she looks ready to be sick.

“Maybe you two should stay back?” I suggest. Hemera shakes her head.

“Not a chance, I’ll be fine. You’ll just owe me big time when we get back home.” She croaks and she walks up to lightly shoulder bump me.

“In we go, I guess?” I grab the flashlight from the side of my bag as the three of us head inside to the hillside den. We try to go in as far as we can before we need to turn on the flashlight. The smell gets stronger the farther we go in. I pull the collar of my shirt over my nose to act as a dampener. It helps a bit. The light of the flashlight illuminates the dirt path in front of us. More bones line the ground as it starts to angle downward. There looks to be like drag marks and hoof prints.

We stop mid-stride when the sound of something snapping emits from ahead of us. I put my hand over the light out of fear. This time a wet crunch sound is followed by what sounds like a growl. That was more than enough to convince me there’s something in here that is probably gonna kill us. Lora and Hemera must be able to read my mind because we all start to slowly back away as the growling intensifies. The three of us turn around and break into a run out of the den.

Lora has a hold of Hemera’s hand and pulls her along. We become slowed down by the trees in the woods. I stumble several times, the bag on my back doesn’t help me much at all. Hemera trips a few times ahead of me. I feel as though something is directly behind me. I fight the urge to look back. The image of last night’s nightmare creeps into my brain. I feel something swipe at my back as I break through woods and back into the empty field. We don’t stop running until we can reach out and touch the car.

“What the fuck what the fuck” Lora leans against her car. “I think I’m gonna hurl.”

I throw my bag off my back and sit on the ground. I had never been so scared in my life. I could have died. Lora and Hemera could have died. Jesus Christ.

“Well, at least we know my monster is real.” I attempt to crack a joke to break the tension. I look between the two of them and notice the papers in Hemera’s clenched hand.

“Hemera, are you okay? What did you find?” I ask her, nodding my head towards her hands. She looks down at her hands.

“I don’t know, I didn’t even realize I had something in my hands. I must have picked it up when I fell?” I outstretch my hand and she hands them over to me. The papers are crumbled and dirty. They look torn out of a book. I turn them over to check to see if there’s any information. I notice a date at the top, 1974. Weird. I shove the papers into my backpack.

“Let’s get out of here. I’m worried that thing is gonna bust from the woods any second.” Lora nudges my foot with hers.

“Yeah let’s go.” I agree, grabbing my bag and sliding into the backseat.

The girls drop me off back home. I leave my shoes by the door when I get inside. I take myself upstairs. I toss my bag into my room as I walk into the bathroom. I turn on the shower before undressing myself. I catch a glimpse in the mirror over the door. Amongst the freckles of my back are three read scratches. They don’t appear to be bleeding but I wrap my arm around me. My fingers gently prod at the red lines. They don’t hurt but they are raised.

I shiver.

I wash my hands in the sink. Take out my eye contacts and step into the shower.


	15. XIV

I stand under the shower for long enough for it to turn cold. I take my time drying off. The adrenaline has finally worn off and I feel sluggish. I walk into my room and pretty much leap onto my bed. I melt into the mattress. I would have fallen asleep if it wasn’t for the cold chill that wakes me up. I put on my glasses before I get up and put on a pair of underwear and an old ratty shirt. I had almost forgotten the pieces of paper. I unzip the bag and pull the papers out. 

I take a tissue from the box next to my bed and wipe the papers down. Tossing the dirty one in the garbage next to my bed. I lean against my headboard and start reading. 

―

_ 1974, October _

_ Catherine has stopped having nightmares. When we stopped giving that thing blood, it tried to terrorize her. It tried to kill the earth. It got a few pets and kids who had gone off into the woods. It doesn’t understand that it’s no longer needed around here. We don’t farm the land anymore, we don’t hunt the woods for food, there’s no need for god anymore.  _

_ Catherine says it’s going to come back but I don’t think it will. I’ve been to it's hill, the sounds from inside sound like it's dying. Jim said he caught a glimpse of it in the woods when he was up in his tree stand. He said it “looked rotten” and could barely stand. I asked why he didn’t try to shoot it? He claims he was too scared. I’ll be honest, I think I would have been too chicken shit myself to do it. _

_ I don’t understand why no one wants to go into the woods to put this thing down for once and for all. Everyone is just “let nature take its course” or “don’t interfere.” As if that’s really going to do anything. But if Jim is to be believed then I guess it’s working. I can’t help but think of what Catherine said about it coming back. I pray this is the last we’ll see of it. _

―

Catherine is my mom. It’s weird to think of my mom going through this and this monster roaming freely. I get chills thinking about if my mom ever saw this thing face to face. Not to mention playing in the woods like I was allowed to. 

Something does stick out to me. They never tried to kill this thing. No one had tried to shoot, stab, or to kill this thing. Just decided “fuck you monster, no more blood or whatever you feed on.” Which seemed to work for a while. But something must have happened for it to start to come back. I read the note again. Did someone try to bring this thing back? But who and why?

I take a photo of the paper and compose a message to Lora. I also send her my theory of someone reawakening this monster. Maybe she’ll see something I don’t? I throw my phone on the charger while I open my bedside drawer to take the pages and tuck them into Granny Abigail’s journal for safekeeping. 

My stomach decides to take this opportunity to growl at me to eat. I go downstairs and start to make dinner for myself and put some in a container for mom to reheat later into the fridge when she gets home. 

When I finish eating and putting away the dishes I head back up the stairs to my room. I check my phone. Lora hadn’t responded yet and I assume I won’t hear from her tonight. I do open my thread from Damien. I let him know I’m home and if he wants to call me when he gets home I’d be awake with a heart emoji. 

I recline back into my bed once more, this time turning on my TV to put on a movie. I scroll through my options and find one of my favorites to put on. Nothing like destressing from monster business than a classic 80s slasher that I’ve seen about a thousand times. I grab the spare blanket from the foot of my bed to put over my legs. 

I don’t realize I’ve zoned out until I hear my phone buzz against the table. I fight my way from my blanket cocoon to grab the phone. DAMIEN appears brightly lit across the screen.

“Hey, I guess you got my text?” I smile. 

“Yeah, I saw it when I clocked out but I wanted to wait until I got home to call.” I hear him shuffling around and the sounds of keys jingling. 

“It sounds like you literally just got home, you know you could have waited until you got settled in for the night to call.” I let out a small laugh. 

“You caught me. I haven’t even taken my jacket off yet and I was a little too impatient to wait.” He sounds a little sheepish, it makes me smile. “I gotta put you on speaker, that cool?”

“Sure!” I respond. 

“Okay hold on...you still there?” 

“Yup.” I snuggle into my bed some more. The movie is now officially background noise.

“What were you up to?” Damien asks. I hear fabric sounds from his end, he must be changing clothes. My mind conjures the image of him taking his shirt off and I shake myself out of that train of thought.

“Not much, I just put on a movie for the night.”

“Oh? What movie?” 

“The Babysitter.”

“Damn it’s been a bit since I’ve seen that.” 

The sound of a belt buckle follows.  _ Oh no, don’t think about it, don’t think about it. _ I don’t realize I made a sound until Damien mentions it.

“Erik, you okay?” Damien sounds concerned. Shit.

“Yeah, yeah just got distracted for a second.” It’s not technically a lie. It’s just his fault

“Wow am I that boring?” Damien laughs.

“Not at all, I’m just trying to behave and keep this call PG.” I laugh along with him.

“As if you’ve never misbehaved in your entire life.” 

“Well, maybe I wanna misbehave with you,” I say in a lame attempt to flirt. It makes me feel a little nervous. I hear a soft squeak sound; it must be his mattress springs creaking. 

“Yeah? I know you’re making it hard for me to behave that’s for damn sure.” Damien says a little breathless. I bite my lip and feeling a little bold I kick my covers off and arrange myself on my bed before snapping a photo. My shirt is long enough that it covers the shorts I’m wearing giving me the appearance of not having anything on underneath. My hair is splayed out on my pillow. I send the photo before I have the chance to second guess myself. 

“You’re not the only one things are hard for.” I’m almost proud of how smoothly my attempt at delivering that line went. Even more so when his phone pings in my ear. I hear him whisper “fuck” into the phone. 

“Vee, baby, you’re gorgeous.” The way his voice gets a little rougher sends a shiver down my spine. 

“Your turn.” I purr into the phone. I don’t have to wait long for my phone to buzz. I take my phone from my ear and open the message. Damien is laid out on his bed, one arm tucked under his head, the camera is angled down his body cutting half his face off. His v-cut abs and happy trail peak from the bottom of the picture. My brain has short-circuited. 

“I think you broke me.” I whimper, he laughs at me.

“That was fast. I was hoping to make a mess of you tonight.” 

“You still can. I want you to.” I respond.

“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to kiss you. That night you came over. The way you just took control and your mouth, fuck Erik, I could kiss you forever and never tire of it. I’ve thought about you...and your mouth a lot since then.” His voice vibrates in my ear, I’m practically a whole new level of turned on right now. My hand wants to reach into my shorts so bad, instead, I grip my covers. Something to keep occupied. 

“I’ve thought about you too. I’m not usually that assertive, but I’m glad it wasn’t a turnoff. I can’t wait to kiss you again. I felt how hard you were under me. I couldn’t help thinking about sliding to the floor between your legs and letting you fuck my mouth. Would you cum on my face or in my mouth?” I let go of the cover and finally started touching myself. Just touching everywhere but where I want. 

“Jesus Christ, Vee, you’re trying to kill me.” Damien's voice sounds wrecked. “I’d, oh fuck, I’d cum in your mouth. Please, Erik. Are you touching yourself? I want you to touch yourself.” 

“I didn’t want to start without you.” I awkwardly shimmy my shorts and underwear down. I’m a little more than half-hard and leaking already. I wrap my hand firmly around myself and start to slowly move my hand up and down. My breath hitches. “Fuck,” I whisper.

“Talk to me, baby. Don’t hold back.” Damien groans. 

“God, I’m so wet for you. I wanna ride your cock so bad.” I start to speed up my strokes. 

“Taste yourself for me.” I do as he says and moan around my fingers for added effect. “I bet you taste sweet don’t you?”

“Yes.” I whimper putting my hand around me again. This time a bit tighter and my movements a bit faster. “Damien, please, fuck.”

“Shit, babe. You’re so perfect. One day I’m gonna fuck you so good and deep.” The image of him pounding into me with his current grunts and moans are enough to make me arch off the bed as I start to cum.

“Damien, Damien, oh oh god.” I start babbling into the phone. I feel like the wind has been knocked out of me. I hear him on the other end pretty much growl into my ear as he cums. We both attempt to catch our breaths. 

“That was...amazing,” Damien says out of breath. “Is it too early to ask you to marry me?” He laughs and I blush laughing along. I reach into my nightstand for a tissue to wipe myself down. I toss it into the garbage can and pull my underwear back on. 

“Ask me again when we aren’t riding the post-orgasm high.” I smile.

“Ugh, fine.”

We stay on the phone until my eyes keep trying to close, after some gentle persuasion from Damien to get me to go to sleep we tell each other goodnight. My movie had finished ages ago. I turned my TV off before crawling under the covers. I fall asleep in no time.


	16. XV

When I finally woke up in the morning, I felt more rested than I have in a long while. I grab my phone from the nightstand. I see where Damien has texted me, “Good morning beautiful” before he went to work. I reply “Good morning” back. I rub my eye and roll over to get out of bed. After eating breakfast, I then make myself presentable before giving Lora a call to come over.

Mom makes her way downstairs about the time Lora and Hemera arrive. Lora gives mom a big hug and Hemera does too.

“It’s so nice to have you girls over! Can I get you two anything while I’m in the kitchen?” mom asks.

“Aw no Catherine, we’re fine, thank you,” Lora tells her.

“Well if you’re sure.” Mom pats Lora’s shoulder on the way past her to the kitchen. Lora moves toward me and moves to talk in a low voice.

“Does your mom know about any of this? I mean the stuff that’s currently happening?”

“Yes. She knows I’m having dreams. I mean she gave me the diary in the first place. Just not the trips to the woods or the new evidence...the note thing Hemera found.”

“Well, we should clue her in, since I know your ass hasn’t said a damn thing to Damien.” Lora scowls at me.

“Fuckin...fine” I pout. “I’ll tell him tonight.”

“Since I don’t trust you, Hemera and I are going to drive you to his house.” I know there’s no arguing with her after that. The two of them go sit in the living room while I go talk to mom in the kitchen.

―

“Hey, honey, what’s up?” mom asks when she sees me enter the kitchen. She leans against the counter as she fixes herself a cup of coffee.

I tell her how I went to the woods a week ago and this last time with Lora and Hemera. I tell her about the strange lack of noise, the rotting smell, the bones, and the chase out of the woods. I don’t tell her about the scratch on my back.

“We got out of there before it knew we were there. Hemera did find this.” I hand over the paper to mom that Hemera found.

I watch her give me a quizzical look, and she starts to read it. There's a flicker of recognition across her face as she reads the bit of paper.

“You found this in the woods?” She looks at me, and I nod in response. “Damn. This is, wow. It’s your grandpa’s handwriting. I was about nine years old here. I kinda remember him going out there to find it and kill it. It scared him so badly. He shot it in the shoulder before it chased him out.”

“Holy shit, grandpa!” My eyes widen. The instant coffee maker beeps for mom to put in her coffee packet, she shuts the lid as it starts to filter into her mug.

“I don’t think he ever went back in there. More than likely grandma yelled at him and he didn’t want to risk sleeping in the dog house. I think too, that he thought he must have finished it off that day. Since I wasn’t waking up in the middle of the night anymore.”

“Well at least we know it can be injured, so that’s some good news!” I feel hopeful that we can put a stop to this. Mom grabs her drink. Blowing it before taking a tiny sip.

“That’s true. Now you go tell those two that y’all are not to go back into those woods until we all have a plan and some weapons.” Mom pats my shoulder as she walks by to go into her office. I head to the living room where Lora and Hemera are.

―

“So how’d she take it?” Lora asks from the couch where she sits with Hemera half in her lap, more than likely playing a game on her phone. I flop into the armchair next to the couch, positioning myself to face the two of them.

“Pretty good. She doesn’t want us to go into the woods until we are armed and with a game plan. Which is fair. The paper Hemera found was from my grandpa. He went out to shoot it but didn’t realize he didn’t kill it for good. I guess we get to finish the job.”

“I’m sure that’ll be simple.” Lora scoffs.

“Well, we could buy cheap alcohol and make some Molotov cocktails. We live in American it’s not that hard to get a gun, and it shouldn’t be that hard to craft some weapons.” Hemera rattles off not once looking up from her game.

“Looks like we got weapons solved.” Lora grins.

“So coming up with a game plan should be easy, right?” I ask even though I second guess myself as soon as I say it.

“Nope.” They say at the same time. I lean my head back and groan. My phone buzzes in my pocket. There’s only one person it could be. My lips immediately turn into a smile when I see Damien’s name across my screen. Lora must have noticed because I can hear her make gagging noises at me. So I stick my tongue out at her.

“What does your loverboy have to say?” She asks

“Babe stop being noisy.” Hemera gently taps Lora’s arm coming to my defense.

“Thank you, Hemera.”

“Don’t worry Erik I got your back!”

“You two have betrayed me!” Lora wipes away fake tears as she pretends to be hurt.

“I just texted him about coming over and he said that was fine. So I guess it’s time to get this over with.” I sigh. The three of us got up from our seats. I pop into mom’s office to let her know we’re leaving. She kisses me on the cheek then I head out the door.

―

I text Damien when we pull up outside to let him know we’re here. Once Lora parks the car I hop out and make my way to his front door. I don’t even get the chance to knock before the door opens with him standing behind it. He smiles at me and when I get close he greets me with a kiss.

“Hello,” I say when I pull away, still standing just inches from him.

“Hi.” Damien’s eyes practically sparkle.

“Hey, are you two gonna just stand there making heart eyes at each other or?” Lora’s voice makes me jump and Damien blushes embarrassed.

“Hey, Lora, Hemera.” Damien nods at them and leads us into the house. I let Lora and Hemera walk ahead of me. Damien shuts the door behind me. I take his hand as if to reassure him but also to ground myself. He squeezes my hand in his.

“Take yourselves a seat anywhere,” Damien offers as we all head into the living room. My eyes flicker to the couch and my thoughts wander to my last visit. Lora and Hemera take to the couch and I take the open spot near where Damien sits in the recliner.

“Let’s just pull this bandaid off first, Damien, I swear to god that if you hurt this poor boy ever in any way that isn’t some kinky consensual sex thing I will break your legs.” I put my head in my hands.

Damien raises his hands in surrender. “I swear I’ll never hurt him. I know I did in the past but that’s never gonna happen again.”

Lora nods, “Good. Okay Erik you may now proceed to the reason why we are here.”

“Thanks.” I quickly roll my eyes. I turn to Damien a bit more and brace myself.

“There’s something about me and my family I never told you about. It’s really weird and hard to believe, and it’s kind of the reason I’m back in town.” I make eye contact with him and hold it. “I realize that sounds almost like I’m dying or something but I swear everything is fine.”

Damien sorta relaxes at that.

“My family, on my mom’s side, are clairvoyant? Able to predict the future? My mom used to have it as a kid and they thought they cured it but I’m starting to have them now. There’s also a creature that lives in the woods that, back in the 1800s, they used to sacrifice people to prosper. It’s still alive even though they thought it was dead. So yeah, a big monster wants blood and I’m gonna try to stop it because if I don’t it’ll bring about the end times.” I finally let myself breathe as a moment passes.

“Wow, that’s a lot.”

“Yeah, I wanted to tell you sooner but it never seemed like the right time.”

“So what’s changed?” Damien asks calmly.

“I’m going to go out in the woods to kill it with Lora, Hemera, and mom. If something should happen out there, I want you to know the truth. There’s also the fact that this thing could try to use us against one another and it’s only fair to give you the choice to end things now if you wanted. You said it’s a lot and it is. I can’t blame you if you want to break up.” I hold the tears back by putting on a brave face, my mouth feels dry. 

I’m giving him an out. It’s the right thing to do, it’ll keep him safe. He’ll move on, maybe find someone with fewer issues.

I feel a hand on my knee, and I see Damien in front of me. I wipe my face to make sure I haven’t started to cry.

“Erik, I’m not breaking up with you. Get that idea out of your head, right now. I’m going to march into those woods with you. I’ll fuckin punch this monster in the face for you. I am going to be there for you. You’re one of the few great things that have happened to me, I’m never going to let you go now that I have you back.” I find myself in his lap on the floor hugging him as close as I possibly can. He hugs me back just as tight and I melt into him.

“I’m just scared. I care about you so much, all of you. I just don’t want you in danger because of me.”

“We all care about you, sweetie. Trust us. We understand that this thing has killed before.” Hemera pipes up.

“Exactly! We know we might come out of this injured and traumatized at the least.” Lora deadpans. Damien and I both burst into laughter.

“Can we get matching “I Killed A Monster and All I Got Was This Lousy T Shirt” shirts?” I ask shifting to look at the others. I watch Hemera get excited asking if she can design them. Lora looks both exhausted and fondly at her. I can’t help the smile on my face at the two of them. I feel Damien’s arms squeeze around me briefly.

I look at him and he gently kisses me. I feel like so much pressure has lifted off of me. I’m not alone in this, and I never have to be alone. There are so many people around me that love me. Things are gonna be just fine.


	17. XVI

By the time we left Damien’s house, it started to get dark outside. Damien and I did not want to let each other go when it was time for me to say goodbye. I gave him a lingering kiss before I took a step off his porch. I climbed into the back of Lora’s car, waving to him as we pulled away.

I tell Lora and Hemera goodnight as I get out of the car. Mom greets me when I come in with a spaghetti dinner with breadsticks. My stomach decides to growl very loudly. I didn’t realize how hungry I was. I kick my shoes off into the closet before going to the kitchen to eat. In between bites, I tell mom how things went with telling Damien. Including Lora’s shovel talk.

“That saves me from having to do it!” says mom while she takes a bite.

“Oh my god, mom! Do not.” I whine.

“What! I’m not gonna threaten him with a shotgun like it’s the old west. I know people can grow and change, but I hated seeing you so heartbroken back then. I love you, kiddo. If you can give him a second chance then so can I.” She smiles at me and just as I take a drink of water she says, “Just no sex in the kitchen.”

“MOM! JESUS!” I choke on my water getting it on my shirt. She bursts into a full-body laugh. We spend the rest of the dinner laughing and eating. I helped mom put away dishes in the dishwasher and cleaned up a bit, before heading upstairs to shower.

I take my wallet and phone from my pockets before I strip out of them to put them in the hamper. I get into the shower and turn the handle to warm, making sure the nozzle isn’t aimed at me. I wait for the water to warm up. I take my hand and test the temperature. I face away from the spray and tilt my head back, wetting my hair.

I grab a towel and squeeze the excess water from my curls before drying the rest of me off. Once I’m dry enough I wrap a towel around me, grab my wallet and phone then head to my room. I sit my wallet on top of the dresser. I open one of the drawers for a pair of boxer briefs and throw myself into bed.

I think about what mom said.

―

I remember standing in the hall watching Damien with his friends and whatever girlfriend he had at the time. I always wanted to be them, one of his girls. I didn’t care that he smelled like stale cigarettes, that I’d be another notch in his belt, and that he was a bit of a dick. I had a crush on him anyway. 

He offered to tutor me in math class our senior year when I was failing and I accepted. He wouldn’t let me pay him for helping me. He showed me a side of himself I don’t think many got to see. We become friends pretty quickly. 

I had only been to his house twice. The first time I met his mom she was passed out drunk on the couch. I could tell Damien was embarrassed so I just I acted like it wasn’t a big deal. When his dad arrived home in a rage that night I never saw someone look as scared as Damien was. He was trying to shove me out his bedroom window to hide me away from his dad.

There was a time Damien showed up to school with a shiner and bragged he got into with some hot chick’s boyfriend after they got caught. I knew the truth, I knew who really gave him the black eye and why. 

It came as no shock to me when people came into school talking about how the cops were at the Adam’s family house because Damien’s parents got into it and someone called the police because they were so loud. His dad got arrested, his mom didn’t press charges, but the state did. 

After his dad was sorta out of the picture, it felt like this invisible dam that was between us broke. He and I became very close, close enough I would have considered him a best friend. I wasn’t into the teen party scene so I never went with him to those. He always asked anyway. We’d chill at mine and watch movies, sometimes Lora would join us. Sometimes I would go to Damien’s house, his room was always covered in posters. It always looked so cool. It felt like a very intimate peek under the layers.

There would be times where we might just sit around playing video games, doing homework, or watching TV in a comfortable silence at his. My favorite times were when he would be so focused on something and I could just observe him (like a fucking creep.) I liked it when he would pluck at the guitar in his room or the few times I watched him tweak parts of his motorbike.

Our time together as friends didn’t last very long.

I had it all planned out. I was gonna ask him to senior prom and at the last slow song, I was gonna finally confess my feelings. It was gonna be very romantic. Until his dad came home the week before. I watched as he started to pull away from me. I watched the wall between us go up like it never came down. 

I knew deep down that it wasn’t 100% Damien’s fault. His dad was a piece of shit. He was trying to protect me and himself. It didn’t make me less angry or less devastated but years later I did forgive him. But I never got to tell him that.

I never asked him to prom. Hell, I didn’t even go. I didn’t want to be surrounded by everyone having a good time. And I didn’t want to see what girl hung off his arm that night. Lora stayed the night with me to cheer me up. We had ourselves a slumber party with pizza sweets, games, and even snuck some of mom’s B&J’s out of the fridge. We spent the night crying and puking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can find me on twitter, tumblr, and pillowfort @ hexedmaiden


	18. XVII

I wake up with the sun beaming into my face. Rolling over I grab my phone to check the time before I open an unread message from Damien.

_ Damien: Good morning, sunshine _

It immediately puts a smile on my face. I responded with a “Good morning.” The two of us go back and forth about nothing in particular as I slowly start to get out of bed. He eventually asks me what my plans for tonight are. I swap my toothbrush in my left hand to say that I’ll be staying home. But Damien decides that we’re going out on a date instead.

I spent most of the day excited and restless that when the time got closer for me to get ready, I began to feel anxious. I knew I had no reason to be. I couldn’t help but worry I might make a fool of myself. I went to my closet and pulled on a pair of dark grey pants and grabbed a nice button-up shirt that I left the top four buttons undone. I checked myself in the mirror. I fussed with my hair to try to get my curls to work with me even a little.

Once I was satisfied with my dressy but artfully disheveled appearance, I made my way downstairs. I texted him to let him know I was ready. Mom popped her head into the living room.

“Look at you! You going out?”

“Y-yeah. Damien’s picking me up for a date.” I smile sheepishly

“Aww, you’re gonna knock ‘em dead! You two have fun.” She says and heads to the kitchen where I hear her refill her glass with ice. The sound of a car outside makes me jump up and run to the window. I deflate a bit when it turns out to be a car just making a u-turn in the driveway. I lean against the window, the coolness on my cheek feels nice. I must have zoned out for a bit because I hear a car honk. I jump away from the window and see Erik’s car in the drive.

I grab my jacket before heading out the door and locking it behind me. I practically run to the car. I slide into the passenger seat. I pull the door firmly shut behind me. I turn to say hello and Damien’s staring at me.

“Do I have something on my face?” I put my hand to my face thinking I must have toothpaste residue on my mouth.

“No! It’s just that you look really good. I mean you always do, but yeah.” I watch as he blushes. I lean over and press a kiss to his cheek.

“Thank you, you look good too,” I tell him as I pull back from the kiss. He’s wearing his studded leather jacket with a deep red polo underneath. His black jeans are tucked into his docs. Pieces of his hair had fallen out from behind his ear that I desperately wanted to touch. 

Once we start heading onto the main road out of town he reaches over and takes my hand in his. We intertwine our fingers together. It’s a small gesture, but it squeezes my heart nonetheless. The ride is mostly filled with the music Damien plays through the car speakers via his phone. It’s not awkward. It’s comfortable like we’ve been doing this our whole lives.

It doesn’t take me long to realize where he’s taking me on our date. I can’t help the grin on my face. We pull into the parking lot and get out. I go around the back of the car where he meets me and I take his hand again as we walk to the building. He opens the door for us. As we enter we become illuminated in a glow of blue and yellow light. In the distance, there’s the sound of coins jingling, button smashing, and chaos. He’s brought me to an arcade.

“Food or games first?” Damien leans closer smiling at me.

“Food, I can’t be kicking your ass on an empty stomach.” I raise my voice a little over the noise. He gave me his elbow and walked me over to the side of the place that’s filled with tables and booths. We grab ourselves a booth, I slide in across from him. A waiter swings by with a menu for us. I ordered myself a burger with fries with a strawberry milkshake to drink.

"Do you wanna take my cherry?" I offer Damien because I never eat them. I hear him make a slight choking sound, it takes me a second to realize the implication of what I’ve just said. I feel my face heat up and I kinda want the floor to swallow me. But Damien laughs and I feel a bit less embarrassed.

“Yeah, I’ll take your cherry.” He laughs around the bite he had taken of his burger and fries. I pluck the cherry from the whipped cream on top of my shake and hold it out to him. He takes a sip of his drink and I watch the muscles of his throat as he swallows. Instead of just taking the stem of the cherry from me, he takes a bite of it from my hand. His eyes on me I watch as his teeth nip at my fingertips.

I don’t know how I survived the rest of dinner as we flirt back and forth. Once we finished and paid the bill, which Damien paid for even though I tried to convince him to split it. Instead, he let me pay for the tokens for the games. We spend several hours running around the arcade. We shove our tickets that we each won into one of the reusable cups. Though we both spent most of our time playing House of the Dead 3.

When we finally ran out of coins we cashed in our tickets for a prize. I look around at the little trinkets and toys. I don’t notice anything that sticks out to me so I tell Damien he can have my tickets. Which is how I end up with a plushy of a dog that looks like a bit of a Puppy Surprise knock off. I love this wonky dog with my entire being. I reach up and kiss Damien.

The two of us leave the arcade hand in hand to the parking lot. We let go of each other's hands to get into the car.

“I wanna go home with you.” I blurt out without thinking.

“I-yeah I’d love that.” Damien grins and lays his hand palm up on my lap for me to take and hold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can find me on twitter, tumblr, and pillowfort @ hexedmaiden


	19. XVIII

I let go of Damien as he fumbled for his keys to unlock his door, I couldn’t contain my smile. I had never seen him this clumsy and nervous before. I heard the click of the lock and the creak of the hinges as the door opened. As soon as the two of us were over the threshold of the front door, I was on him again. The door slammed shut as our mouths crashed against each other. My hands were in his hair and his hands were all over me. Under my shirt, and the ass of my jeans. I pulled away briefly and watched as he tried to follow me. I laugh at him, and he opens his eyes at the sound.

I can’t help but bite my lip at the state of him, his dark brown hair mused and his green eyes seem so much brighter in the lamplight. I did that to him. I’m so in love with this fucking asshole. He smiles back at me and looks at me with an almost shyness I’ve never seen before.

“Vee, fuck, I need you, please.” Damien pleads his voice cracking at the end, I feel his hands move and squeeze my hips. I all but melt at his desperation, but I take pity on him instead. I kiss him again and move my mouth to his ear to whisper to him.

“Take me to bed.”

No sooner are the words out of my mouth is he on me again, and my feet are off the ground. If I wasn’t already straining the front of my jeans I definitely was now. God, I have never been more turned on in my entire fucking life. He carries me into his bedroom and gently sets me down. He shucks off his jacket and all but rips his shirt off. Damien had put on some muscle since our high school days. He was still the tall and lean boy I had always had a crush on all these years. I sit up on the bed and try to work my shirt off. I swear to god if my arm gets stuck I’ll die of horny embarrassment.

As my shirt gets over my head I feel Damien’s hand grab my ankle, then him pulling off my shoes. I fling my sweater off somewhere in his room and the two of us are left in only our jeans. The both of us drinking in the sight of one another.

“Do you, I mean do you still want..” Damien starts and I reach out for the belt loops of his black jeans and pull him to me so he stands between my spread legs. I look up at him, maintaining eye contact as I begin to pop the button of his jeans, watching as he licks his lips.

The question dying on his tongue as I pulled the zipper down. I put my hands on his hips and slowly peel the fabric away along with his underwear. I put my mouth on the v-cut of his hips kissing the expanse of skin that I slowly reveal. I could get off on the tiny noises he makes above me alone.

When I finally expose him I look back up at him, I wrap my hand around him, and with the flat of my tongue licked the head. His hand goes to the back of my head, it spurs me on to take him further in my mouth. His fingers tightened in my hair, holding on as I bob my head. I take him as far as I can and let out a small moan I was trying to quiet. He groans, and I watch as he closes his eyes. I stroke him as I pull back and let my teeth gently nip at the end causing him to hiss.

“Fuuck.” Damien breaths out.

“I was kinda hoping we would.” I quip and tighten my grip on him and his grip in my hair flexes to match as he starts to laugh that breaks into a moan. He leans over me and tilts my head back into a kiss. He moves forward and I let go of him to move back on his bed. He puts his hand on the side of my head to prop himself up. His other hand tries to work the button of my jeans open. I take pity on him and undo them myself and push them down and off. I help him take his own off the rest of the way.

Damien’s hand gently strokes down my side and makes me shiver at the touch. His hand moves to my thigh and moves my leg to put it on the other side of his, not breaking our kiss. He unexpectedly moves his hips, giving us both some friction that makes me gasp. I put my arm around his shoulder to pull him closer. He continues to thrust against me. It’s both too much and not enough. I put my hand on his chest, giving him a gentle push away.

“Is something wrong?” Damien asked, his brows furrowed in confusion. Oh, this beautiful, sweet man.

“Nothing’s wrong, I just,” might as well just spit it out, “I want your dick inside of me.” Well, okay me that’s one way to say it. I can feel my face heat up, I swear I’m not usually this blunt.

“Yeah, I can do that!” Damien gives me a quick kiss and stretches over me to his bedside table where he opens the top drawer. I hear things being shifted around as he searches for the lube, I hope. He closes the drawer and moves back, in his hand is a bottle of lube and a condom. Oh, thank god. At least cleanup will be less messy. I watch as he moves to kneel between my legs and pops the lube open. I watch as he coats his fingers liberally sitting the bottle not too far away on the bed. The next thing I feel is his finger circling me and he slowly pushes in.

“Oh fuck” I breathe out. I can feel him slowly pull out and push back in. Soon enough I can feel the stretch of a second finger. I know that if I want him inside he’ll have to use three fingers to make sure I’m loose enough, but I’m too strung tight and I just want to be able to feel him for a week. So I let him keep going, I feel the motion of his fingers scissor in me and moan as I feel him slip in that third digit. I let out something akin to a sob and Damien stills his hand.

“Please, god, don’t stop” I beg him.

“I’ve got you, baby.” Damien silences me with a kiss, his tongue breaches my lips and he moves his hand again but this time in rhythm with his tongue. He thrust his fingers in me a few more times before he removes them, I all but cry at the loss of them. I don’t even realize I’ve closed my eyes until he says “Vee, look at me.”

I open them and look into his eyes, his pupils are so big it’s like looking into pools of black. I hear him slick himself up. I feel so nervous all of the sudden. I take a deep breath and exhale as I feel him slowly ease inside of me. It’s a slow torture that I won't be able to get enough of. I watch his face as he sinks in, his hair falls into his face and his grip on my hips tighten. His nails dig into my flesh when he stills himself letting me adjust to the intrusion. 

“Move” I croak out.

Slowly he inches out and pushes back into me. We slowly build up a rhythm meeting him thrust for thrust. I grab the back of his head this time and pull him into a kiss again. I hook my leg over his back to change the angle and my vision swims as he hits just the right spot. “Fuck, shit, right there oh god!” I claw at his back as I clench around him. Damien groans and his hips stutter briefly before he starts to pick up the pace again.

“Please, please, I’m so close” I whine before gasping when he angles down more.

“Me too, sweetheart. Jerk yourself off for me. I wanna watch you cum.” Damien practically purrs and that goes right to my dick. I take myself in hand and began stroking myself in time with his thrusts. I can feel myself about to cum. I start to clench around Damien and all but scream as I climax. 

I don’t think twice about it and out of the habit of trying to keep quiet, I sink my teeth into the junction of his neck and shoulders. Not deep enough to break the skin but enough that it makes Damien make a guttural groan as he starts to cum as well.

Damien gingerly pulls out, taking the condom off before tying it up. I watch as he walks naked into his bathroom. I lay my head back and hear him turn on the sink. The sink turns off and he comes back with a washcloth. I start to reach for it to clean myself up but he playfully bats my hand away and washes me. I can’t help but laugh when he wipes my stomach, it’s not my fault I’m ticklish. He tosses the cloth into the hamper across the room then collapses half on top of me.

“Sorry for biting you, I’m used to trying to keep the noise down that I just...” I sheepishly motion to his neck.

“Erik, that was hot as fuck and I’m very into it.” Damien closes his eyes before kissing my neck. He lays his head on the pillow next to mine. His arm drapes over me and he pulls me close.


	20. XIX

The first thing I noticed when I slowly drifted awake was how warm I felt. I didn’t feel as uncomfortable as I would normally have. The second thing that I noticed was the arm around my waist. I roll over gently to face the body behind me. Damien is still asleep. He looks so peaceful with his lips slightly parted. The arm around my waist squeezes me a bit. I brush my fingers in his hair and gently brush my lips in the space between his eyebrows.

I extract myself from his arms very delicately to sneak off to the bathroom. I gather my underwear and a shirt from his bedroom floor. I quietly make my way to his kitchen to make us breakfast. I searched his cabinets finding the Shake and Pour pancake mix. By the time I finish, I hear him waking up.

I turn the stovetop off before putting the plates on the table. I quickly grab the butter and syrup out of his fridge to sit on the table. I go to head back to his room and we practically collide in the hall.

I barely get out a good morning before his lips are on mine and his hands are on either side of my face. I kiss him back just a little harder.

“Breakfast is ready,” I whisper.

“I love you.” Damien sighs. We both kinda freeze at that. “I-um that wasn’t supposed to be out loud.”

“Do you mean it? Not just because I made you breakfast I mean.” I chuckled nervously.

“Yes. I’ve loved you for a long time since high school. I was just too chicken shit to say anything. Then you came back and the feelings were still there. I just wanted to wait for the right time, you know?”

“I know because I wanted to tell you last night. I thought maybe it was too soon. I didn’t want you to feel pressured or runoff. Which would have been weird because this is your house.” I kiss him again before dragging him to the kitchen. “Come on, breakfast is getting cold.”

The two of us sit at his tiny kitchen table and eat. I casually brush my foot against his ankle under the table, when I get up to rinse our plates to put in the dishwasher. Damien gets up to put the butter and syrup in the fridge. I go to turn around and see him watching me.

“What?”

“You’re wearing my shirt.” I look down at that. Huh, well that explains why it’s a little loose on me. “You look good in it.”

“Maybe I’ll be the boyfriend that steals your comfy shirts and hoodies.” I snark as he crowds me against the counter. Damien leans down kissing me. His hands snake their way to my waist and all of a sudden he picks me up to sit me on the counter. Not once breaking our kiss. That shouldn’t be incredibly hot as it is.

His hands are on either side of my hips holding me in place while he stands between my legs. I know the rational side of my brain would say getting fucked in the kitchen is unsanitary but the horny part of my brain is screaming about how hot it would be. That part is currently much louder. So I wrap legs around Damien and pull him closer to me. I feel his hardness against mine.

“Fuck me,” I tell him, flicking my tongue against his lips. “Right here.”

“Yeah?” He asks and I nod echoing him. I make a move to take his shirt off of me.

“Leave it.”

Oh, so that’s what this is all about. He’s got a possessive side.

I pull him into a kiss again. His hands are on my hips pulling at my underwear. I lift my hips so he can take them off me, leaving me naked except for his shirt. It makes me feel far more naked than I was last night. He pulled my hips closer to him as his mouth traveled from my lips and to my neck. I felt his teeth along my neck and I knew I would see bruises bloom there later. Just the thought makes me moan into his ear.

I try to grind against him but it doesn’t give me the friction I crave.

“Touch me, please. Anything.” I pant when he detaches from my neck.

“Shh. I got you.” Damien kisses me before he gently pulls me off the counter. I turn away from him to lean over the counter. His shirt rides up to expose my upper thighs. I look over my shoulder at him, not expecting him to get on his knees. Damien’s hands cup my ass and spread my cheeks. I feel the wetness of his tongue against my hole and it sends shockwaves up my spine.

“Oh god.” I moan as I try to push back against him. I put my forehead on the counter. He stiffens his tongue as he penetrates me with it this time. His nails dig into the meat flesh of my backside. He wiggles his tongue inside me a few times before he stops. I whine at the loss, but I hear him get up from the floor. I finally notice the jar of coconut oil on the counter when I hear the lid fall as he scoops some out to use as lube.

When he loosens me up just a bit more I feel him gently slide into me. I feel wrecked already. I don’t even try to muffle myself as I call out “Damien!” when he snaps his hips forward. The two of us get into a hard and fast rhythm. I can already tell I’m going to have wobbly Bambi legs after this along with some bruises on my hips. He tilts his hip down and it makes me stutter in my rhythm.

“Oh god! I love you, don’t stop!” I moan as he picks up the pace behind me. “I’m so close.”

“God, you’re perfect. Cum for me Vee.”

That was all I needed before I clench up and go up on my toes. Damien pulls me close to his chest as he cums along with me. The two of us are out of breath. If it wasn’t for his grip on me I think I would have just collapsed on to the kitchen floor. We eventually detach from one another to shower. I make him brush his teeth before he gets into the shower with me. We wash each other, it would have been scarily intimate with anyone else but it just feels natural with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only two chapters left!! Thank you all who have been reading along so far <3


	21. XX

Eventually, my clothes finish washing. I changed back into what I wore the night before. Damien offers to take me back home, which I gratefully accept. I kiss him before getting out of the car and walking into my house. Mom is unsurprisingly in her office with the door closed, but I can hear her talking on the phone. I try to make as little noise as possible as I make my way through the house. I could probably move about like normal, but it just seems polite.

After I settle in for the day, mom finally emerges from the office and greets me. She asks how my date went. Mom seems to have lost her skepticism against Damien, which is great. One less thing I have to worry about, that’s for sure.

For the next week, Damien and I call and text each other every day. I think about stopping by his work to maybe bring him lunch or something but I don’t want to seem too eager. All of us are slowly prepping for the woods. Mom fills an extra backpack we had in the house with first aid supplies. When she adds a shotgun and a box of ammo with the backpack it starts to hit me. I feel a coldness come over me and I have to busy myself with other things around the house.

By the time Friday rolls around Lora, Hemera, Damien, mom, and I have gathered around the kitchen table which is covered with guns, knives, and cheap alcohol to make Molotov cocktails with. I almost feel like this is some wild fever dream that I’ll wake up on the couch of my apartment. I snap out of my thoughts when I feel Damien slip his hand into mine, squeezing it. I lean my head against his shoulder as we all sit around talking.

Once our “meeting” adjourned we gathered our weapons and the first aid backpack and packed ourselves into mom’s car. I sit up front, mom in the driver seat, while my friends and boyfriend are cramped in the backseat. We sit in a heavy silence on the way to the empty field and woods. When we finally pull up the sound of the car doors is practically deafening.

I take the first step from the broken concrete of the sidewalk toward the yellowing grass of the field. My grip tightens around the nail-spiked wooden baseball bat in my hands. It’s almost like I can feel it watching me from the tree line.

“Let’s kill this fucker.”


	22. XXI

The woods are just as quiet as when we were last here, but there’s a newer and more oppressive feeling that hangs in the air. I take the lead with Damien close behind me. Mom hangs toward the back. I almost want to tell her to go back to the car, but I know that she wouldn’t leave me just like if I wouldn’t leave her. So I don’t even bother voicing it. Before we realize it the cave entrance has come into view.

We all come to a halt a good eight feet away from the entrance. I make sure everyone has their weapons.

“None of you have to stay, you’ve done more than most folks probably would have. Trust me, I am not gonna be hurt if none of you want to put yourselves at risk like this.” I look at all of them.

“Erik none of us are going anywhere,” Damien speaks up.

“I’d rather take my chances fighting this thing with all of you, than alone when it's too late.” Lora grabs onto Hemera’s hand who smiles in agreement.

“I ain’t losing another god damn kid.” Mom comes forward pulling me into a hug. My eyes prickle with tears for a second as I hug her back. As she moves back she wipes my eyes. I reign in my emotions before the five of us ready ourselves.

My eyes catch sight of a rock near my foot. I lean down to pick it up. I stretch my shoulder back and with as much force as I can muster I throw the rock into the cave. Letting out a scream. I want that fuckin thing to know I’m here. I hear the loud smack of the rock ricochet inside the darkness and land somewhere inside with a thud. The seconds tick by like hours until we hear the sound of hooves on the dirt. Then a human-sounding scream from within. 

A pale white snout emerges from the dark first. It takes me a second to realize that it's not white fur, but it's an exposed deer-like skull. The sunlight slowly reveals the set of deer antlers on top of its head, then dark grey matted fur of its body. Its arms are long, and on its hands, there are only four fingers. What I thought was a pair of legs are another set of arms. When it stands straight up in front of the cave entrance it must be about 8ft tall. It stands on two thick horse-like legs.

If it wasn’t for the fact this thing is trying to kill us I would think it looks cool. It moves its head as if to sniff the brisk autumn air and turns its head toward us. The beast’s eyes are pale, grey-yellow. It’s almost as if someone had turned down the saturation on whatever this thing is.

I whisper to Hemera who has her slingshot ready to fire. I move forward slowly.

“I know what you want! You’re not gonna get it. I’ll kill you first!” I yell at the beast, who looks me dead and in the eye. Though it has no flesh I can feel it smirk at me. It roars and Hemera fires the first shot. It yelps and snarls as the shot lands. It makes a break for us. Its hooves sound like thunder every time its feet hit the earth. I yell for the others to run as I run right for this thing. I watch as it swings its large claws at me. I jump out of the way, twirling around with the bat extended to hit it as it passes me.

I hear a loud smack as it makes contact with the beast. It screams and skids to a halt to face me. As it moves toward me again I catch Hemera from the tree line aim once more to hit it in the face this time. I watch as the shot whizzes toward me instead. I lift the bat in front of me trying to shield myself. It hits me in the shoulder anyway.

“Fuck!’ I yelp. It stings like it's on fire and I know I’ll have a bruise there tomorrow if I make it out alive. Hemera grimaces and mouths the word sorry. The creature looks around for what hit me and spots Hemera out in the open, and starts to make a move toward her. My heart drops, and I go after it. Hemera looks panicked, she tries to ready her slingshot but fumbles. I start screaming at it to get it to focus on me again.

It seems to be targeting Hemera. Lora who I didn’t even notice was missing runs out of the woods with her pitchfork. She even surprises me when she leaps out at the thing. She stabs it in the leg. It focuses its attention on her, lashing out with its claws at her. I watch as she’s knocked off her feet. Her grey sweatshirt turned red across her side. I take a swing at the monster with all my strength and take off to help Lora. I reach out to her and help her up. The two of us ran to create some distance.

In the meantime, Hemera pops off another shot. By the sound of it, behind Lora and me, it must have hit its target. The creature howls something awful. When Lora and I get behind a tree for cover we watch as it tries to swing blindly in Hemera’s direction. Who, thankfully has moved away.

In its confusion, I watch as Damien lights the first molotov cocktail. He throws the flaming bottle to land and explodes at its feet. That pisses it off. I feel this sudden creeping feeling on the back of my neck almost like someone is right behind me before the sound dies around me. Leaving me with only a ringing in my ears. I see out of the corner of my eye Lora grabbing her head in pain. I make a move toward her thinking that she must have hit her head but as I go to touch her she looks at me with blackened eyes and lunges.

I get knocked onto my back as she tries to claw and bite at me, the bat is knocked from my hands. Lora looks feral, spit flying as she keeps snapping her jaws. I managed to get an arm in between the two of us to keep her from fully tearing into me. But not much. Lora might be a few inches shorter than me, but she works out and until now I never thought about how much she really could kick my ass.

My arms feel like they could give out at any moment. Just as the thought passes through my head I feel a weight leave my chest. My eyes crack open to see Hemera and Damien lifting Lora off me. I sit up and scrabble up backward to put some distance between me and the three of them.

“Jesus Christ. What’s wrong with her?!” Hemera cries as Lora fights to break from their hold on her.

“I don’t know! Everything went quiet, I got this creepy-crawly feeling, and the next thing I know Lora pounced on me like some zombie.” I panted somewhat out of breath. I quickly grab up my bat from the ground. I see mom rush over to see what’s going on as well. She hands me her shotgun. I take hold of it very gently. I watch as mom slaps Lora in the face. All of us jump in shock, Lora’s eyes flicker like an old TV back to normal.

“What the fuck,” Lora says shocked

“I’m surprised that worked,” Mom responds. I bark out a nervous laugh.

“Mom stay with Lora. Damien, Hemera, and I will see what we can do.” Lora doesn’t look so happy, but I can tell she understands. The two of them bunker down with bat and Lora’s pitchfork. I keep the gun, and Damien takes the bag of Molotov. We sneak back toward the creature. It stood there waiting for us. When we came out of the woods it immediately turned to us.

It almost looks surprised to see me still standing.

“You’re still too weak, you fuck.” I spit. It looks at me with hate. I cock the shotgun as a threat.

“I could give anything you wanted. All you had to do was sacrifice a little something to me.”

“Fuck you. You can’t make me give up shit.”

“Poor little Damien hasn’t been honest with you, has he? Hasn’t told you his deepest secret has he?” The creature says in a mocking tone.

Damien runs toward it and it backhands him, making Damien stumble back.

“SHUT UP!” Damien yells, spitting blood.

“He was the one that woke me up. He wanted the power to stop mommy and daddy for good, so I gave it to him. No more shall they hurt him and all he had to do was bring them to me and I made the town forget they even existed.” The creature motions toward Damien who gets knocked to the ground by an invisible force.

Lora and Hemera scream as I make a run toward Damien. The creature laughs as I drop my gun and gather Damien’s limp body in my arms. 

“I don’t fucking care what he came to you for you ugly fuck!” My voice breaks as I try to shake him awake. “Come on Damien, wake up. Please.”

“You humans are so weak, so fragile.” I hear it say.

I watch as Damien’s eyes flutter open. I finally let out a sob. I feel Damien’s hand brush my cheek.

“I’m so sorry Erik. I swear I didn’t know. I didn’t know any of this would happen” He pleads

“It’s not your fault, it’s theirs.” I lean over him to kiss his forehead. “I’m gonna fuckin kill this thing.” I take off my jacket and fold it up under his head. I get up from the dirt and turn toward the creature. I look to Lora and Hemera who give me a nod. I run at the creature full speed with my ax. It goes to swing at me but I drop to the ground and slide lifting my ax above my head snagging the creature in the chest. As it roars in pain I run, as Lora and Hemera light their Molotov cocktails throwing them at it.

I watch as it goes up in flames. I feel the rage inside me building as it screams in pain. I both want it to suffer and to put it out of its misery. I grab the shotgun from my back and aim. I brace myself for the kickback and fire twice. I watch as it goes down onto its knees. Moving closer I fire two more rounds. The last round goes into its head. I flinch as the spray of blood hits me in the face.

It takes me a second to realize Lora is yelling for me. I back away slowly before running off back to the group. The girls try to stand Damien up, he’s a little wobbly but he makes it. I rush over to help. He’s right eye is going to swell. There’s some blood on his face but I don’t think anything is broken.

“Come on let’s get him to a hospital,” I tell them as we all shuffle our way out of the woods.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea? I mean I’m fine plus they’ll probably ask all kinds of questions and giant forest god being an answer is gonna get some raised eyebrows,” says Damien, hissing in pain.

“Yes, because none of us are doctors and I don’t want you to be in more pain than need be. Besides we can just say we were drunk in the woods and you had the bright idea to scare Lora and she clocked you in the nose” I grin.

“That does seem plausible,” Lora agrees. Hemera laughs.

―

Somewhat surprisingly the nurse at the hospital does buy our story. Damien, however, wasn’t concussed, thank god. He did manage to get a decent-sized bump on his head and some bruising. I have Lora drop Damien and I off at his house and tell them to call me if they need anything. He and I drag ourselves into his house. I sit him down on the couch and I go to the bathroom to run a shower for us. I constantly check on him to make sure he’s still awake. I know he got the all-clear, but I can’t help but worry.

The shower finally heats up and I go back to where I left him on the couch. I gently help him strip down and help him under the spray of water, before taking my clothes off to get in with him. I scrub him down as delicately as I can. Alternating between cleaning him and then myself. Damien for the most part does try but I can tell he’s hurting. I know both of us are barely holding it together.

I finish rinsing myself off by the time the water gets too cold. I reach out of the shower to grab a towel to dry us off. Mainly I just try to get us from soaking wet to slightly damp. I leave our clothes and the now wet towel on the floor of the bathroom. I walk us into the bedroom and get him into bed. I crawl in right behind him and hold him as close to me as possible.

“Please don’t leave.” I barely hear Damien whisper. My heart catches in my chest.

“I’m not going anywhere. I don’t care what you did, because I would have done the same thing to have saved you. If I had lost you tonight, who knows what kind of deal I would have made to get you back.” I kiss the back of his neck and squeeze him closer to me. I can taste the salt in my mouth as I begin to cry with him.

“I love you and I’ll never let you go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading <3
> 
> You can find me on twitter, tumblr, and pillowfort @ hexedmaiden


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